Requited Love
by purplecrown14
Summary: Harry Potter just ran away from the Dursleys and Draco Malfoy got disowned by his father for being gay and ruining the family image. This is their story. warning: this is AU and nonmagical and the setting is in America.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

Uncle Vernon was seething. He had just witnessed that terrible freak take a piece of his precious son, Dudley's, bacon. Dudley didn't even notice and began to gobble up the bacon, eggs, and toast as fast as he could. Uncle Vernon took a few deep, loud breaths through his nose and attempted to calm himself, but to no avail.

"POTTER! How DARE you steal Dudley's meal, you fucking faggot! Get over here this INSTANT!" The young man, whose name was actually Harry, walked slowly up to the kitchen table with a defiant glint in his magnificent green eyes.

"What, Uncle? I did nothing wrong, seeing as I made the whole meal, why shouldn't I be allowed to eat some of it, hmm?" Uncle Vernon swung his fat hand to meet Harry's face with a loud smack. Harry stumbled backwards but kept on his feet, "Try it again, you asshole, I dare you!" Uncle Vernon rose from the table and grabbed Harry's thin arm and began to drag him out of the kitchen. Harry stomped on Uncle Vernon's feet and scratched at his stomach on their way up to Harry's room, Uncle Vernon threw Harry against the war and put his hands around teenager's skinny neck.

"DON'T. YOU. _EVER._ DO. THAT. AGAIN. You hear me?1?" Harry spit at him with as much mucus as he could muster and Uncle Vernon let go of him, and instead punched his stomach. Harry fell to the ground and tried to get up but was promptly kicked multiple times until his whole body was almost numb from the pain. Uncle Vernon left him lying there on the hard wood floor and closed the door without a second glance.

It took Harry a few minutes to stop shaking, and about thirty to stand up and look at himself in the mirror. Lifting his shirt up, he could scars from the years and years of abuse along with his newly obtained bruises. He felt the skin along his ribs and winced harshly when he touched the skin over the broken bones. Harry was having trouble breathing, but he was used to that. He knelt down slowly in front of his bed and pulled out the makeshift first-aid kit that he had hidden under it. He got bandages and a few other things and wrapped his body up so it would mend and set properly. It would take a little while, but Uncle Vernon wouldn't hurt him for a while, Harry was sure of it.

When Harry made his way back downstairs, Uncle Vernon had already left for work and Dudley for school. Harry didn't go to school though he wanted to so badly. Aunt Petunia thought Harry was better suited to clean the house and do other things around the house instead of getting an education. The only reason Harry even knew how to read was because he stole Dudley's books when he was in first grade and taught himself.

One day, Harry promised himself as he began to mop the tiled kitchen floor, he would get out of here. He would runaway and make a life for himself and never ever look back. He had some money saved up. He had often found dollars and coins lying around the house and sometimes nicked a twenty or even a fifty if he was lucky. He had about a thousand dollars now. It wasn't much, but it was enough. He could find a job or just wander around the world. He had always wanted to go to California or Niagara Falls. Maybe he could go to Canada or get a cheap ticket to the U.K. or something. There were so many options; he just had to bring himself to do it. The only problem was every time there was an opportunity for him to leave; he always somehow convinced himself that life here wasn't so bad.

It was his seventeenth birthday the next day, not that anyone cared, but he knew it and it was enough. He had a small tasty-cake he stole from the supermarket two days ago in his room and he planned to eat it as slowly as possible. Dudley used to make fun of him for not having birthday parties or even acknowledgement of his birthday, but it got old after a few years and Dudley moved on to other taunts. After finishing his chores for the day, Harry spread out on his bed, wincing at every movement his body made but somehow managed to fall asleep.

The next morning was much like yesterday, just without the beating. Harry did not sneak food from Dudley this time, though he flipped Uncle Vernon the middle finger when the man turned around, and ate his own one piece quickly before starting on his tasks for the day. He wanted to get everything done as soon as possible so that he could relax and enjoy his birthday.

About seven hours later, Harry was standing naked in front of the full size mirror that was attached to the door of this closet. He was way too skinny. He could count almost every bone in his body. The bruises were still there of course and so was the pain of the broken bones in the process of being set. Harry took in his jet-black crazy mess of hair, bottle-green eyes that were wide behind his glasses. He was nothing much to look at, not that anyone was looking. Harry traced a hand over his chest, drawing invisible lines over the scars that sat there. There was one scar in particular that fascinated him. It had been there for as long as he remembered and Uncle Vernon hadn't given it to him, making it special. It was a lightning blot shaped scar that was right above his heart. No matter what Vernon did, that scar was always prominent and stood out from all the rest. When Harry felt it, it sent shivers throughout his whole body.

Harry grabbed a pair of grey sweatpants and pulled them on, leaving his chest bare. He took out the small cake he had stashed in his tiny desk and took off the protective plastic. He licked the left over frosting from it before throwing it in the trash. Harry laid himself on the bed, stomach up and held the cake in front of him. _Well, I guess this is it. Happy Birthday to me._ He took a small bite and savored the sugary sweetness that spread through his mouth. For the first time in weeks, Harry smiled. Then he laughed and could not stop laughing until it hurt too much. He did not stop smiling however as he finished his well earned dessert.

This time, it took him longer to fall asleep. The happiness from the cake still lingering and spurring on his many thoughts. He thought of many things that night and put together a solid plan to escape his personal hell on earth. The whole Dursley family would be leaving on a day trip in two days time, which was Monday. Harry planned on stealing all the money he could from them on Sunday night and leaving with as much food as possible in the middle of the day when he was sure they were not coming back. He was going to escape. He was going to be free. Free at last.

(^^^)

Sunday was a very slow day for Harry. Every emotion a person could feel was flooding through is body, or at least that's what it felt like. Aunt Petunia had already slapped him twice today for not paying attention to his chores. In retaliation, he poisoned her favorite flowers with chemicals he found in the shed. When she mentioned it to Uncle Vernon at dinner he yelled at Harry for a good thirty minutes before calming down and grabbing a cold beer from the refrigerator.

At midnight, when Harry was sure all the Dursleys were asleep he crept down stairs and took a total of two thousand dollars from the three collective wallets the found. He left enough so that they were not suspicious of him, they just would need to go the bank.

After serving the Dursley's their breakfast all the while making faces at them behind their backs, Harry went upstairs and pulled an old, medium sized suitcase from under his bed that had been there since he had moved into the room when he was eleven. He filled it with three outfits, a pillow, and his favorite book along with toiletries and his stash of money. He heard Aunt Petunia telling Uncle Vernon that they needed to go to the bank. He listened as they moved around the house and watched as they piled into the car.

Harry gave them two hours before he got up- he didn't want to take any chances. He raided the refrigerator and pantry for anything that looked good and could survive at least a few days. He grabbed three pairs of Dudley's massive socks and one of his sweatshirts. He found pepper spray in Aunt Petunia's bathroom, which he took as well. From Uncle Vernon, Harry took a pocketknife.

Harry walked around the house. There were no happy memories here but he would miss this place somewhat. It was the only place he could call a home for all his life so that was understandable. Harry grabbed the handle of the suitcase and walked out of the sliding glass front doors. Tentatively, Harry walked down Privet Drive and then another street and then another and another until he had no idea where he was but kept walking anyway.

He walked for hours, never stopping. When he looked at his surroundings at about five thirty, he had no idea where he was. Harry was not sure what to do so he just kept walking long into the night, even after the moon and the stars came out into the purple sky and the night animals began roaming. Harry passed through three towns already. When he passed by stores, he would look through the window at the people inside buying things. Sometimes they would be happy, other times there would be little kids crying and tired women pulling them around.

When morning came, Harry found himself in a park, curled up on a hard wooden bench. His suitcase was next to him and thankfully untouched. His money was intact, his clothes were fine so he took out his book and read. When people began to enter the park, Harry got up and left. He decided that today and the next day would be walking days and on Thursday, he would go to the nearest town and find a job and a place to live.

Instead of buying food, Harry thought that eating from the food he brought would be better and save him some money. He found the half loaf of bread and took out a chunk of it as he walked nibbling slowly. He took a tiny sip from the one water bottle he had brought and swirled it around his mouth, enjoying the feeling.

At some point the next day, Harry managed to get a map of the whole state and found where he was. He was four towns over from where the Dursleys lived and he decided to go over one more before settling down. When Harry came to the next town, he when to the township and asked if there were any job openings nearby that offered a place to sleep or something like that.

The nice lady behind the desk, whose name read as Minerva McGonagall, told him that there was a small bookstore with a tiny apartment sitting on top of it that the owner was hoping to rent out. She said there was also an orphanage that if he were to work there a room for him to live in would be provided along with all meals. Harry smiled brightly at her and took down the addresses of the two places and walked to the bookstore since it was the closer of the two.

The bookstore was small, but welcoming with soft colored walls and comfy couches scattered all over the place. A woman whose name was Mrs. Pince ran it. She was uptight and strict but her assistant, Remus Lupin, was very kind to Harry and convinced her to allow him to live in the apartment and work for them to pay off the rent. Harry took the offer right away, seeing as he did not really want to live in an orphanage, and Remus showed Harry the rooms he would be living in.

The loft had one bedroom, a living room, and a kitchen with a small table and two chairs. There was an old television inside the bedroom that worked sometimes but only showed three different channels. Remus said that they could get him more channels if he wanted, but Harry shook his head and thanked Remus for helping him.

"Don't worry about it, Harry. It'll be nice to have someone other than Ron around. He's always moping around and complaining, but you don't seem like that kind of a person. So your job is going to be helping Mrs. Pince out with whatever she needs help with, kind of like a personal assistant. She likes to do most of the stuff by herself though, so you can basically just sit and read books all day or something. Oh, the only thing you will actually have to do is go out before lunch and get us all something to eat. There's a Chinese place around the corner and a bakery and a pizzeria two blocks away so it shouldn't be so hard. Is that ok?" Harry nodded his head.

"Thank you, Remus. I- I don't know what to say. Just thanks, I guess." Remus just smiled and they walked back down to the store.

"Now, child. This place is no place for loud noise or any form or ruckus. I expect you to be down here by the time I open up and always around to help me. Usually I will be doing things by myself, but I am not as young as I used to be and need some help. You can read any book in here as long as you don't mess up any of the pages. If a customer asks for help, you are to do so to the best of your ability and be polite. You got it?"

"Yes, Mrs. Pince! Thank you for this opportunity."

"You're welcome, child, now come with me and help me move some boxes that were dropped off yesterday." Harry followed the old woman to the back of the store and she directed him on where to put them. After the boxes were spread around the store, harry was instructed to put the new books on the shelves and then fold up the boxes and put them in the back room. Because there were only a few hours left before closing time, Harry moved as quickly as possible and tried to ignore the dull pain that emanated from his bones.

Mrs. Pince was very pleased with his work when the day ended and she inspected what he had completed. He was told to finish up with the boxes the next day and sent to his apartment. Harry threw himself on the bed fully clothes and breathed a sigh of relief. He had done it, he had finally escaped and now he had a place to live in, a job, and all the books he could ever read at his fingertips. He fell asleep easily that night, warm from the smooth sheets and comforted by the mattress that was a million times better than the cot he had at the Dursleys.

* * *

><p>"Remus, that boy looks awfully skinny and worn out. I wonder where he came from." Mrs. Pince said as they locked up the shop. They began walking to the subway.<p>

"Yes, it's quite curious. But I don't think we should pry. He can tell us his past when he's ready I guess."

"Yes, I agree. Ooooh, Remus, this is like a story- it's a mystery." They smiled at each other and parted ways, heading to different subway trains.

* * *

><p>Blaise Zabini trudged to his room in the flat that he and Draco shared. He sat down on the edge of the bed and took off his shiny black shoes and sighed as his feet became free of their fabric prison. It had been a long day for both of them. His and Draco's father had found out that they had gone to a gay stripper club and had given them the verbal beating of their life. Draco had immediately frozen up and looked at the wall behind the two older men while Blaise stood there and said nothing. He never listened to what his father said and was not going to break that habit.<p>

Blaise and Draco had been best friends for as long as they could remember. They knew everything about each other, even their deepest darkest secrets and were comfortable around each other with anything- from sex to their wildest dreams.

Draco had stayed back with his father when Blaise went home.

"Draco, listen, son, I know your _experimenting_ or something, but I forbid you from ruining our family name. Promise me th-"

"Father, I have told you before many times. I am gay. I will always be gay. I do not care about the family name since you've mixed it with dirty money and lies. I'm going to do what I want and if that means going to a gay strip club, that is exactly what I'll do." Draco stared into his father's eyes, challenging him.

"Draco…"

"No, Father, this is my life and you have no right to dictate what happens in it. Goodbye Father." Draco made for the door but Lucius stopped him once more.

"Draco, if you walk through that door without apologizing, you are nothing to me. You will be disowned and I will never speak to you again. Do not make this choice lightly."

"Oh, fuck _off_." Draco took another step.

"I'm warning you, Draco…"

"And I don't give a damn."

"You will never be a Malfoy again."

"Good." Draco slammed the door behind him and ran out of the building. He jumped in the car and drove as quickly as possible back to his house. He found Blaise taking off his pants in his room and sat on the bed. "Blaise, he disowned me." Blaise paused in what he was doing then chucked off the pants and went to sit next to Draco with only his boxers on.

"Are you alright, though? You always said you'd rather never have been part of that family."

"Yeah, but Blaise, I never thought he'd _actually_ disown me." Draco turned himself do that his head was against Blaise's chest and Blaise held him there with strong, warm arms that made Draco feel a lot better. "Blaise, can we…?" Draco mumbled into his chest.

"Are you sure, Draco?"

"Yeah, please, I need to forget." Blaise did not answer and instead pulled Draco up to him and they kissed passionately.

"Remember, this is for you, Draco, otherwise I wouldn't do it…"

"I know, Blaise, thank you." The man nodded and dragged both of them onto the bed completely and started to rid Draco of his clothes.

Hours later, the two best friends lay cuddled together. Draco was asleep but Blaise was wide-awake. He was thinking about everything they had ever done and decided it was time for Draco to get an actual boyfriend. Having sex with him was great, but there was no extra spark or anything- it as just sex and Draco need more than that. He needed a lover, someone who could take care of him in a way Blaise could not. Blaise sighed and closed his eyes. "Goodnight, Draco." He whispered before falling asleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: I thought it might be nice to write a Drarry chapter story instead of one-shots, though I'm still doing those. I liked writing the ASS chapter story, so i thought I'd try it out. Ok, so i know Draco isn't exactly canon, but i thought it would be nice to write a different kind of Draco than i usually do. Just so you know, I am going to camp for seven weeks, so I won't update this until after that, but reviews are always awesome and I greatly appreciate them. I don't know how long this is going to be in the end, but I promise I'll stick with it until it's completed.**

**Hope you enjoyed the first chapter :D**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

"Oh my god guys, you will never guess what happened in the supermarket yesterday!" Ron Weasley burst through the front door of the bookstore and headed straight to where Remus and Mrs. Pince were talking. He didn't notice Harry at all. "Well I was there coz my mom wanted me to buy some milk, right, so when I got there, there were these two old ladies- and I mean really old, ancient really, and they were fighting. Well actually they were screaming at each other and every single person in the whole entire supermarket could hear them and they weren't just yelling words, they were kinda cursing at each other but like really old kinda- like "wench" and "witch" or some shit like that. So the taller one of the two threw a can at the other and the security guards came and dragged both of them away but one of them got kicked in the nuts so hard they called an ambulance. And you know what the whole thing was about?" They shook their head and he grinned hugely, "It was about butter! Isn't that hilarious?"

When Ron stopped laughing, finally, and realized no one else was laughing, Remus walked over to him and tapped him on the arm.

"Ron, this is Harry Potter. He started working for us yesterday." Ron jumped when he realized there was another person in the shop and blushed to his roots. Harry smiled at him tentatively and they shook hands. "Ron has been working here for a few years, Harry, but there's only one reason he bothers to come to our humble store. And she should be walking in this very place in about a few minutes. Mind you, we were sure he was gay..." Remus smirked at Ron who spluttered before composing himself and looking at Harry.

"I'm not gay, it's called being able to recognize beauty in both sexes, Remus. And just because I said Krum was sexy doesn't mean _anything._ I like Hermione, that's all, ok?"

"Who's Krum?"

"A very _sexy_ soccer player who Ron has been able to recognize beauty in,_" _Remus stuck his tongue out at Ron who blushed a little bit before turned back to Harry.

"It's very nice to meet you, but if you try anything with Hermione, I'm going to have to kill you." Harry stared at him for a second before smiling slightly even though he had no idea who Hermione was. After an awkwardly pregnant pause, Harry decided he should get to work on putting the books from the boxes into the shelves. He was about to step away from their little group when the door opened to reveal a bushy haired beauty. She looked over to where Remus, Harry, and Ron were standing, gave them a terse nod and walked towards the back of the shop.

Ron tried to wave at her and said "Hello, Hermione" in a tiny voice. The only response she made was waving in a kind of sarcastic way before turning away and disappearing behind a bookshelf. Harry made a quick exit then and moved to open one of the boxes that sat next to a bookshelf close to where Hermione was standing. They ignored each other for the better part of fifteen minutes until she stepped forward and introduced herself.

"Hello, I'm Hermione Jean Granger. I assume you're new here?"

"Yes, I started working here yesterday. My name is Harry Potter." She gave him a weird look.

"Are you related to someone famous?"

"No, why?"

"You're last name sounds really familiar, but I can't recall from where. That's strange."

"Well, I never knew my parents since they died when I was a baby, so if they were, I wouldn't know anyway." She gave him a sympathetic look and patted his arm gently.

"I'm so sorry." He shook his head at her.

"Don't feel sorry about it. I never knew them, so I can't really miss them. I've lived with my Aunt and Uncle all my life with my cousin." He tried to control the hate in his voice, but it must have slipped out.

"Was there something wrong with them?" Harry shook his head at her.

"No. Nothing. Everything was fine."

"So... where did you go to school?" Harry sighed and looked down at his hands, wondering what her reaction would be if he told her the truth. He decided just to go with it. No lies- they never led to anything good anyway.

"I didn't go to school. I taught myself how to read and write." Hermione looked at him with shock and a tiny bit of horror.

"That's terrible. Why not?"

"I don't really want to talk about it, Hermione. I've just met you." He turned away from her slightly, hoping his eyes were not red, seeing as they felt like they were burning. "Look, it was nice to meet you, but I have to work or else I can't pay off the rent for the apartment. At about eleven thirty, I'm going to the pizzeria to get lunch for everyone, if you want to join me...?" Hermione smiled at him and patted his shoulder.

"Sure! Talk to you later, Harry." She walked off, in search of a new book to pour over. Harry shook his head to no one in particular and bent down to open the box by his feet.

Not much happened in the store until eleven thirty. A women and a little girl walked in, hand in hand at about nine and Remus went over to them and helped them find a picture book for the girl. Harry heard her squealing over the pretty drawings of princesses and thought about how different her life would be from his. The little girl's mother sat down next to her on the multi colored rug and read out loud the story that her daughter had picked out. As Harry worked, he listened intently to the woman's warm voice as it traveled through the store. He pretended she was his mother reading to him before tucking him into bed and placing a soft kiss on his forehead. When he closed his eyes, just for a moment, it felt real, true, whole, but then he opened his eyes and faced the world that had been so cruel to him.

Harry did not realize, but during the next two hours, Remus, Ron, and Hermione were all sending glances his way. They felt his shift in mood like it was a heat wave sweeping through the shop and wondered what was wrong. Hermione, being the smart, intuitive girl she is had her own suspicions. Ron was just confused and Remus was pensive. But when the clock finally ticked its way to eleven thirty, the mood in the shop changed dramatically. Harry was brought out of his depressing thoughts and walked with purpose to the door. Hermione followed him, pulling her jacket on as she went. They took everyone's orders down in memory and stepped through the door.

Harry looked over at Hermione, questions bubbling up in his throat but only one managed to get its way out of his mouth. The moment he said it he felt a little bad.

"So why do you keep blowing Ron off?"

"Noticed that, have you?" He nodded not really sure what else he could have done or said in response and she sighed. "He's never actually come up to me and asked me out properly. If he could be a man and just... man up, than there wouldn't be this problem but he won't take a hint and _I _certainly am not going to tell him what to do."

"Why don't _you_ just ask him then?"

"I don't really know. I mean I could, but I guess I just want to see if he'll be brave enough. Maybe it's a girl thing or something." She shrugged and they walked in silence. "Do you have a girlfriend, Harry?" He smiled sadly at her.

"No, girls really aren't my type."

"So you're gay?"

"I guess so. I don't really know, seeing as I've never been with either genders, but I've never really found girls all that attractive. This one time I saw this guy in a sports magazine that my uncle bought for my cousin. He was real muscley and huge, but thin and beautiful in a way. I don't know. I can tell if a girl is pretty or not. You are. Really pretty I mean. But I'm not _attracted_ to you like Ron is I guess. Does that make any sense at all?" Hermione smiled knowingly at him.

"Yes, it does. Thank you for telling me, Harry. You're a really nice, you know. I could help you find a guy if you want. This town is really open about this kind of stuff, I guess you can kinda already tell, but if you want any help or anything I'm always around. I actually live about ten minutes from the bookstore- walking. Here I'll give you my address." She stopped walking for a moment and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from her pocket. "Could you turn around for a sec.?" Harry did so and Hermione leaned the paper against his back and wrote down her address. She handed it to him and he pocketed it.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

They smiled at each other and walked the tiny distance between where they were standing and the pizzeria.

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Music was blaring from the obnoxiously big speakers Blaise thought it had been necessary to buy that sat on each side of the living room. Draco was lounging on the comfy neon green couch with his long legs splayed in seemingly awkward positions and his hands behind his head. Draco had his eyes closed and allowed the music to wash over him and fill every crevice in his mind until there was nothing else to think about.

So his father had disowned him. In the morning newspaper, the headlines shouted that very fact to the world. Draco had gotten a note from the bank that he had a small account opened for him by his father and that it was open for him to use if he wanted. After Draco had gone to the bank, straightened a few things out and counted how much money he had, he decided to get a job. It did not have to be an extremely high paying job or anything, since the amount of money he had was in no way small, but if he wanted to keep up the life he had been living, he would have to be making some money on a regular basis. Blaise already promised him that he would pay most of the money for the flat until everything stabilized.

Blaise... well, Blaise was entertaining his newest boyfriend in his room. When the two of them stumbled into the house after coming back from the club, Blaise had introduced Draco to Neville Longbottom with very slurred speech before they disappeared into the room. Thankfully, they did not seem to mind the loud music- or maybe they had fallen asleep, not that Draco cared.

Once Draco had eaten lunch out in a pizzeria a few blocks away from the bank, he went to the township and asked the grey haired woman behind the desk if there were any job openings. She gave him a sympathetic look, obviously having read the newspaper and sat down with him in the lounge looking over ads, discussing different options until Draco decided he would try his luck in the pizzeria he had just eaten in. He thanked the old woman and walked to his car. Instead of going back to the pizzeria to find out about the job offer, Draco drove around the small town and went "people watching."

He watched as a five person family walked into the park with a dog on a leash and then a boy and a girl a few minutes later. They walked hand in hand, smiling softly. Draco wondered if this happy looking couple would get married and have a family and buy a house or maybe they would break up do to some miscommunication or other forms of mishap and never speak to each other again. There were so many ways their lives could play out and yet the girl and boy still walked together like they were the only people in the world and nothing else matter to them but themselves. How could they ignore such an important fact of life? How could they be so carefree?

Draco stayed where he was, sitting in his car staring out the window at nothing in particular and mulling over thoughts in his head about love and friendship and Blaise and how everything worked out or did not work out. He tried to figure himself out. Use whatever knowledge he possessed to assess himself from and outside view and came to the conclusion that he was definitely fucked up and needed to stop turning to Blaise for everything, including sex. He needed a boyfriend or another person who he could rely on and talk to about anything.

With these probably dangerous thoughts swirling around in his head, Draco set out again for the bookstore he had passed by on his way to the bank to see if he could find any good books on friendship and love. It did not occur to him how stupid that sounded until he had already made his way out of the car and into the store. The women behind the desk in the middle of the store looked at him inquisitively and motioned for him to come over to her.

"What are you looking for, child?" He swallowed noisily and did not know how to answer. Should he really just say what he was looking for and sound like a complete fuckwit or make something up? Before he could come up with a solution he was distracted with the sight of a young man placing books onto a shelf.

Draco's mouth dropped open and his eyes bugged out as he took in the man. He had a mass of crazy looking black hair, a slim body that looked gorgeous even though he was wearing an unfitting shirt and an ugly pair of jeans. His skin was almost golden and seemed to shine under the florescent lights of the bookstore. When the man bent down to pick up another book, Draco got a god look at his arse and decided he was a ten or even an eleven. God, the man was beautiful. Draco wanted to eat him up and fuck him right into the bookshelf.

"Um dear, are you still with me?" The old woman's voice cut into Draco's fantasies and he looked away from the nameless man and back at her.

"Uh, yes, well you see I was wondering if you could suggest any books for me. I prefer fantasy and magic, but I'm willing to read anything." Draco decided it was best if he did not mention the friendship and love thing and just get a regular book. Maybe he could stay here a while and meet the handsome young man in the back of the store. The storekeeper looked at him shrewdly before beckoning him to follow her and leading him to a bookshelf. Mrs. Pince, as she had introduced herself, handed him five books and told him to read through the summary of each book and maybe the first chapter and see if he liked any of them.

The first book was a nice adventure story about two teens trying to find the end of the world. It was a little too juvenile for Draco and he set it aside. The next three were mystery novels about fit young men who went on various misadventures to solve crimes. Nothing matched Draco's interests so he silently placed things back onto the shelves and walked away from it. Not wanting to ask Mrs. Pince again for help, he walked quietly through the store, looking at summaries of books with interesting covers. One of the books that struck him was called Fly Away. It narrated a tale of two brothers who hitchhiked across the world.

Draco spent another hour browsing and stealing glances at the young man.

"Excuse me, do you need something?" Draco jumped as he heard the man's voice directed at him and realized he had been caught staring.

"Um no, I was just day dreaming." Draco hoped that the stranger would believe him.

"Ok, well, um, if you need anything, I guess I could help. I'm new working here, but I could probably help you."

"No it's fine, thank you." They turned away from each other, Draco cursing himself mentally and Harry wondering why he was feeling so weird. After that moment, neither man could think of anything else but the other one and had trouble concentrating on whatever they were doing. Finally Draco just decided to get the book he had picked out and go home. He could go to the pizzeria tomorrow and find out about the job. Hopefully when he got home, Blaise and his friend would either be gone, a sleep, or eating so he did not have to walk into the house and hear sounds of sex.

The minute Draco got home, however, he realized his luck had run out. Since the blasting music had been turned off, he could hear Blaise and Longbottom panting and grunting along with the bed squeaking and thumping against the wall. Damn them straight to hell for the disturbance of peace. Damn them. But Draco could not bring himself to do anything about his best friend and random stranger having sex in his home since it was Blaise's home too and Draco had no right to stop them. If Draco had had a reasonably good explanation for robbing Blaise of his orgasm, then maybe it would be ok, but Draco's attraction to a man who he did not even know was not urgent enough. So Draco sat down at the kitchen table and waited.

What seemed like hours later, Blaise and Longbottom emerged from the bedroom. They were both shirtless with only boxers on. They were both grinning, but when they spotted Draco staring off into space, Blaise frowned slightly and motioned for Longbottom to stay where he was. Blaise knelt down beside Draco and placed a warm hand on his knee.

"Draco... come back down to Earth from whatever planet you're on." Draco slowly moved his head to look down at Blaise and nodded. "What happened?" Draco looked towards Longbottom and made a face.

"Can he leave for a minute, I want to talk to you alone."

"Sure, Aco. Neville, can you wait for me in the bedroom?"

"'Kay." Neville turned and left; Draco waited until the door to the room had swung shut and then opened his mouth to talk.

"First of all, I hate it when you call me that, my name is Draco and you know that, you big prat."

"But you know that I love you enough to give you a nickname so why fight it? Stop stalling, what's wrong?" Draco shook his head. "Come on, Aco. I'll keep calling you Aco until you tell me..." Draco shot his best friend a death glare and then stared at the napkin holder in front of him.

"I went to the bank after you and your... friend, boyfriend, lover, whatever you call him, came home. Then I decided to get an easy job so I went to the township and found an opening at the pizzeria place we go to sometimes. So since I had already been in there for lunch, I decided to wait until tomorrow to talk to the manager and instead go to the bookstore. I stepped in and there's this man, he works at the store, and I can only see the back half of him at first, but he I swear he is the most wonderful looking man I have ever seen. So I stood there for a few seconds, just staring and then the old lady behind the counter asked me if I needed help. I ended up finding a book that I liked in a section near him and all I could do what look at him. He must have realized I was watching him so he turned and asked me if I needed anything. Blaise, I don't even know how to describe the beauty in his face, let alone how melodious his voice was. I couldn't even think of anything to say for a second, I'm sure he thought I was crazy. But he was the most perfect person I have ever seen, ever. I don't even know his name. Jesus, Blaise, I don't know what to do. I just really want to know who he is... and get in his pants if I can." The friends shared a quick grin before turning somber once more.

"I think you're in love with him. You know, love-at-first-sight and all that shit. Imagine that, Draco Malfoy _in love_. Don't have to imagine it anymore." Blaise giggled to himself and Draco smacked him on the back of the head.

"I'm not in _love_ with him, I just think he looks amazing and I want to keep him forever even though I don't know a fucking thing about him."

"Okay, well I'm going back to Neville and bring him out here so we can have a snack, do you want to meet him? I might end up keeping him, not like the other guys. I mean it this time though."

"Really Blaise? You're going to settle down?"

"I think for now, yeah. I really like him, Draco, actually. You don't mind if he stays over a few nights a week, right? I mean if you do, then, I'll just stay over at his home."

"No, it's fine, I don't mind, as long as you guys don't make too much noise."

"We'll try not to." The skin around Blaise's eyes wrinkled as he smiled and Draco smiled down at him, a real smile. Blaise patted Draco's knee and pushed down to pull himself up. Draco followed him up and pulled him into a hug.

"I love you, Blaise."

"I love you too, Draco." They stood there for a few moments, just holding each other, trying to pass each other silent messages through the embrace. "Okay, I'm gonna go bring him out and properly introduce you two. Back in a sec." Blaise skipped away from the kitchen and to the bedroom that he and _Neville _had been in. There was silence for a few moments and then the pair exited and moved toward Draco.

"Hey, Draco, this is my boyfriend Neville Longbottom. Neville, this is my roommate Draco Malfoy."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Neville."

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Harry and Ron were talking quietly in a corner about a movie that Ron had just seen and was ecstatic about when Mrs. Pince's friend, Doctor Grubblyplank burst in brandishing a newspaper.

"Oh, Irma! Oh look at this! You know that Malfoy child? The one who is always standing behind Lucius? Well apparently he's gay and Lucius disowned him for the family! Can you _believe_ that? Oh, what news!"

"Wilhelmina! You're such a gossip, but you are right, it is very interesting. And such a handsome one too."

"Who's handsome?" Hermione piped up, putting down her book for the first time since lunch and walking over to the two old women. She smiled when she looked at the picture in the newspaper and nodded her agreement. Ron and Harry ran over as well to have a look.

"Wait! That guy was here this afternoon. I talked to him for a second and then he bought a book and left. He looks better in person than he does on paper." Harry blurted and then blushed crimson- he had not meant to say that last bit. "Um I mean... oh, never-mind." Harry looked away from the book and at the floor and missed the looks that Hermione, Ron, and Mrs. Pince shared. Hermione smiled slightly and gave him a comforting pat on the back.

Author's Note: Chapter Two down. yes it took a while, but the next chapter won't. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, etc. feel free to post a review or send me a PM and I'll get back to you asap. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Also, thanks to jetsonastro24 for betaing for me. :D


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Lucius Malfoy had been eating a quiet lunch when his emergency phone buzzed. He picked it up immediately and listened to the rough voice on the other line.

"Harry Potter has been found. He left his hide out on the Sunday after his birthday and was seen in the bookstore in Hogwarts Town. You live there. Your mission is to go to that bookstore and find out as much as you can about him and call Mr. Riddle. You are to inform him of everything you learn. You are expected to do nothing but what is asked of you and not to ask questions. Any questions?"

"No. Message received."

"Good. Now, get to work."

Lucius snapped the phone shut and reached for his blackberry. He speed-dialed Ms. Nymphadora Tonks. Though Malfoy knew that she hated him, Riddle, and everything they both stood for, he also knew that she would have to do anything either of them asked without question and had been at their service ever since the failed election of 1980. Her family had been supporter of the other side and fought them with much fire in their hearts but Ted Tonks, Nymph's father, made a bet with Riddle about something stupid and ended up on the wrong end of it. The Tonks family was basically owned by the Riddle campaign ever since then.

"Mr. Malfoy."

"Nymph. You are ordered to go to the bookstore in the town of Hogwarts and find out everything you can about a boy named Harry Potter. Do not raise suspicion. Report back to me when you have completed your task and we will have dinner together and discuss what you have learned." She whispered her acceptance and they both ended the call. Lucius relaxed back into his chair and folded his hands in his lap. Now all he had to do was wait. And look forward to dinner and what was sure to happen afterwards in the bedroom that was already prepped... He smiled evilly and closed his eyes.

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Tom Marvolo Riddle was pacing in his office. He had been pacing for the past hour and made no indication that he was anywhere near stopping. The two men on either side of the huge wooden desk exchanged glances every so often, confirming their mutual confusion. Mr. Riddle wore a completely black suit which accented his stunning features and made him look important- not that he nor anyone else had any doubt about how important he was. His shiny shoes made no noise on the multicolored rug as he walked back and forth. Riddle's black hair, which was slowly going grey, was unruly but in a annoyingly fancy way that made women look twice at him and wonder... But he paid them no mind. He knew he was handsome and he did not need some silly woman to tell him that and throw herself at him like some whore off the streets. He deserved the best and so far no woman had reached his level. There was one, but she turned out to be unfit and stupid. But Tom kept his hopes up, his head high, and his latest-fashion suit in tip top condition. He was the perfect man of power, which would have been lovely for everyone except that he was evil.

Riddle did not start out evil. In fact, he used to be one of the nicest person most people had ever met. He was polite, smart, charming, and not to mention, good to look at. He had many friends and was the top of his class. When Tom went to Law school, he was adored by most of his teachers and offered an internship at a firm. For a few years, it suited him. He had a lovely girlfriend, a nice flat, a well paying job, but something was missing. He wanted more. He wanted to be something more, do something big and historical. One day he woke up and realized he wanted to be the president of the United States. He fit all the requirements except age so he decided to spend the few years doing what he could to ensure that he would be president.

Of course, the moment he turned thirty five, Tom Riddle became a candidate for president. People throughout the country debated over him and Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore and for the most part, they were neck to neck. Tom was young, handsome, and sly but Dumbledore was older, wiser, and was well known by more people. In the final elections of 1980, Albus Dumbledore pulled in front and won the presidency, leaving Riddle behind and revengeful. His heart turned to ice and his mind filled with hate. How could the country he loved so much let him down? How could they vote for Dumbledore and not him, Tom Marvolo Riddle? Dumbledore did not deserve to win. He deserved to die and seventeen years later, Mr. Riddle was still plotting to over through Dumbledore (who on the people's insistence had stayed president ever since despite the law of only being reelected once more).

The reason Tom Riddle had been pacing back and forth in his office was because of a phone call he had received from Lucius Malfoy. Lucius and Tom had known each other since they were children. They had not been the best of friends, but they respected and listened to each other. Malfoy had helped Riddle in his campaign by lending money and supporting him; Riddle helped Malfoy build an empire of business. Together they had thought themselves unstoppable. Obviously, that was not the case, but they kept in contact since the failed elections and made sure the projects they were working on were running as smoothly as possible.

The phone call had been about Harry James Potter, son of the late James and Lily Potter- the two people who had been the most against him while he ran for president. He had personally murdered them when he lost and when he turned to the small child sobbing in the crib in the corner of the room; the baby's green eyes stopped him in his tracks for a second. Then without hesitation, Tom had taken the sharpest knife he had out of his belt and drew a lightning bolt over the infant's heart. The blood from that wound covered the child who turned still and silent. The way Harry Potter's eyes stared at Riddle when he walked out of the room, cleaning his knife shook him to his core and he could still picture the green glistening orbs to this day. Riddle had not heard of the family since then, until the call of course.

"Tom."

"Lucius."

"There is something that I need to tell you and it is something you should have known ever since 1980 but was kept secret under my command. Please hear me out and then you can say whatever you want to. Yes?"

"Fine, Lucius, just tell me," Riddle sounded almost bored, like he could be picking at his fingernails or sorting through the mail- only half listening to what Malfoy had to say.

"Harry Potter is still alive," Lucius heard something on the other line clatter to the floor. "We kept him secret from you since we did not want to get you in trouble. He was living with his aunt and uncle who beat him daily and we say no reason to stop them. Recently, about two days after his birthday, July thirty first, he ran away from the home and we found him living in the town of Hogwarts. He's working in the bookstore and living in the room above it, using his paychecks to pay the rent. The reason I have decided that it is safe for you to know about him is because we are close to achieving our goal and you are cooler headed than you were back than. I think, if you want to do something to the boy before we carry out our plan, we should discuss it and figure it out because now he is alone and free in the world with no one to speak up for him. It is the perfect change, Riddle. What do you think?"

There was silence on the other line for a moment before,

"I am failing to see why this information has been kept from me."

"Tom, you had almost been put in jail for Potter's parents' murder, we did not think that it would be

wise for you to get in trouble again."

"Lucius, I am disappointed in you, but you are right. We should start planning. Set up a meeting next Tuesday- the whole board. We all need to be there to figure this fucking thing out."

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"Hello, My name is Draco Malfoy, I was wondering if I could take the job you guys had open. You have a sign outside..." Draco had walked into the pizzeria at ten thirty and asked to speak to who ever was in charge. The man, a Mr. Argus Filch, looked Draco over with a doubtful eye.

"Ya think ya can work in a place like this, rich guy?" Draco was bewildered at the man's rudeness but nodded and answered,

"Yeah, I do. I just need a steady pay check and I like making pizza." Mr. Filch shrugged.

"Well I'll give you the job but if you mess up your gonna be outta here in no time, got it?"

"Got it."

"Ok, let me show you around..." Mr. Filch led the way out of his office and behind the counter to where the pizzas were made. He showed Draco where all the toppings, cheese, sauce, etc. were and then told one of the workers, Colin Creevey, to show Draco how to prepare a pizza. It was quite an easy feat to accomplish, Draco thought to himself as he made his third pizza. The kitchen was very small; there was only room for about four or five people to move around comfortably. Aside from Colin, there was Denis, Colin's younger brother, Katie Bell, and a red haired Ginny Weasley. Katie took orders by phone and through the counter while Colin and Draco made pizza. Ginny prepared the salad and plated the pizza. Denis hung around them doing various jobs and often times running out to the pizza van to go deliver a pizza that had been ordered over the phone. Mr. Filch rarely left his office.

During their lunch break, Katie and Draco sat outside in the break of the pizzeria, Katie smoking a cigarette and Draco eating a cold cheese quesadilla he had made for himself that morning.

"So, Draco is it?" He nodded and she continued, "So you seem like a nice type of guy and you look like the kind of person who has strong opinion-" again he nodded "-So I was wondering what could make a highly opinionated, nice man like yourself work in a lowly pizzeria job. Escaping a crazy girlfriend, running from the law? I won't judge you, but I'd like to know." She grinned slightly at him before taking another drag from her cancer stick.

"Disowned unfortunately and decided to live a regular life and get a job. I like pizza and there was a job offering so I took it, not that exciting I suppose." Draco shrugged and swallowed the last of his lunch before standing up and stretching. "Do you know anywhere nice to hang out or something around here? I never got out much before other than random clubs and I'd like to."

Katie stood up as well and threw out the fag before turning back to him. "We got plenty of clubs and bars here, restaurants, an art center, a park, anything really. Here, there's a map of this town somewhere inside, I'll show it to you when we go back. So I noticed that you don't smoke- or just not today or during lunch or something?"

"Nah, not really my thing, but my roommate smokes all the time- I don't really mind it. I guess I'm just used to it by now."

"Yeah, that tends to happen. My mom hates it when I smoke though so I have to do it outside the house- not that I go there much anyway. I hate it there." She sighed and they stood in an awkward yet somehow comfortable silence until they heard Colin yelling for them to come back in.

"Bugger." Katie muttered as they pushed through the rusty door and made their way back into the small shop. Colin looked at the two of them strangely but Draco paid no mind to it and went to prepare the next order.

"So… where do you go to school? I don't recognize and I thought I knew almost everyone around here."

Draco looked at Colin, taking in his messy blonde hair, regular brown eyes, and boring clothes. He had probably just graduated from high school and trying to make some money before the college year began. Poor boy. Draco had been lucky enough to get out of having to go to college. Well it was really his choice anyway since he was disowned but his father had allowed him to take any path he wanted. It's not like he cared about his only son that much anyway seeing, as he was a disgrace.

"I went to Durmstrang Boarding School. It's a few hours away from here, I don't know if you've heard of it but I'm not going to college so this is just something to do." Colin nodded in his direction, only half paying attention due to receiving a very complicated order from Katie. He stood still for a second before motioning for his brother to come over.

"Den, can you go and see if there's any more blue cheese in the fridge, this person wants a ton of it. We don't have enough out here." Dennis poked him in response and half-walked, half-skipped to the fridge. A few minutes later he returned with a tub of the stuff, grinning from ear to ear. Dennis was an almost exact carbon copy of his older brother though he had dimples and slightly lighter hair. Draco wondered what their parents looked like.

When five o'clock came around, Draco found himself back in the boss's office looking at the old man expectantly as he sat in a huge lumpy chair while he faked reading a newspaper.

"So you made it through the day, did you?"

"Yes, of course."

"Good then. You'll report here every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and…. Monday to work from nine to five. Oh and on Sunday, you have the night shift, so you have to be here at five thirty until eleven." Draco agreed and Mr. Filch gave him a few forms to sign and wished him a good night, though it did not really look like he cared very much how good Draco's night was.

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Harry, Ron, a reluctant Hermione, and Remus sat on the carpets by the children's section eating Chinese food and discussing anything that came to mind. At the moment, the topic was music.

"I just hate all this new crap that they're producing. It's terrible. Nothing is real. All the voices are auto tuned and a computer makes the music. I just don't understand what happened to real music. What happened to actually good concerts?"

"I agree with you in that sense, but just because something is changed on the computer doesn't mean it isn't music. It's just a different kind of music and if that's what people are listening to, then why get rid of it. Plus the computers and stuff make the people's voices sound better which give people a bigger opportunity to get famous. Who would turn down a career in music? I certainly wouldn't and I like pop. It's fun and jumpy and makes me want to dance. Seriously, I don't see what's wrong with it." Ron said in response to Remus' complaint. Hermione decided to remain mild on the subject and was reading a book. Harry, who had never ever really cared to listen to music, ate his vegetarian lo mien quietly. It was not like he had much to say about anything anyway. The rest of the meal passed while Ron and Remus debated music and when the hour was over, Hermione and Harry stood up and walked away to do their own thing.

Harry was content with finishing the last three boxes of books that he had intentionally put away slowly. Hermione was off in another world of a new book. She sat on a green couch, curled up on herself, her huge maroon book in her lap. Harry wondered if her brain would explode one day with all the information it had absorbed and laughed silently to himself at the thought. Eventually Remus told Ron that they should agree to disagree and Ron walked in Hermione's direction in a huff. He flung himself next to her and tried to read her book with her bet failed due to the fact that it was too boring for him and he kept losing his place for lack of concentration.

Hermione smiled softly when he fell asleep on her shoulder about thirty minutes later and shared a look with Harry. Remus, for some reason, ran into the back room and came back a minute later holding a small, silver camera in his left hand. Hermione pretended not to notice him and turned back to her book while Remus snapped a few pictures and then returned the camera. Harry watched this exchange with a strange feeling in his stomach.

These people might be his friends, but he would never be close with them the way they were with each other. He would never be able to argue with Remus for an hour about something and make up a second later. He would never be able to have the courage to take a cute picture of Hermione and Ron during an 'intimate' moment. He might be able to ignore people and read a book, but letting someone snuggle up to him in the process would not be easy for him. Harry wanted to have friends like these people but he wanted to be able to act around them the way they acted around each other and it hurt Harry inside to know that he could not. He would never mean the same to them as they meant to themselves.

Without concentrating on what he was doing, Harry walked up the stairs to his rooms and turned on the television.

"…and later tonight we will cover President Dumbledore's speech on making gay rights legal in all fifty states, but now let's head over to Mrs. Sinistra with the weather…" Harry tuned out the droning voice of the reporter and weather woman Mrs. Sinistra, and set his mind on preparing himself a small snack. For some reason he could not get the blond man he had seen the other day out of his head. Harry wished he could find a reason as to why he kept thinking about this particular person, but he could not think of one other than how beautiful the man was. At least Harry knew the man- Draco Malfoy, yes, that was his name, Harry remembered now- was gay, but that did not mean he liked Harry. Malfoy did not even know Harry. Harry was not sure if Malfoy lived in this town or not. All of this confused harry very much and he stuck his snack back into the refrigerator and sat down on his bed. What was wrong with him? Why could he not get Malfoy out of his mind? Harry threw himself back on the bed and fell into a restless sleep- waking many times before morning broke the darkness of the night.

Over the next three weeks, Harry got into a regular routine at the bookstore consisting of the people who worked there, the books, and customers. There was a rush of business as schools began to open for the year and Harry had to help shoppers out though it was not his initial job. Even Ron was busy. Hermione decided not to spend the extremely busy days in the store and went to other places around town. Sometimes, when Harry had a break, he would go meet her in near by places and they would talk. Harry did not tell Ron he was doing that because he was sure his new friend would think he was trying to seduce Hermione or something along those very dangerous lines.

Most of the people coming and going through the shop were lovely and easy to help while some were a little more difficult. There was one woman who introduced herself as Dolores Umbridge who criticized Harry about everything, his hair, his posture, demeanor, and the color of his eyes. It was tiring, but finally after many fake smiles and promises to clean himself up, Mrs. Umbridge found the books she needed and was on her way out of the store. A man with the nametag reading "Mr. Argus Filch," who Harry later learned was the manager of the pizzeria down town, was grumpy and demanded a cook book for his younger daughter's birthday. Harry, knowing nothing about cooking, set Remus on that task and went on to the next customer.

Once school started, reluctant teenagers strolled in and asked for books on science and history or non-fiction books to read in order to finish an assignment. Only a few of them seemed excited or even remotely accepting of the fact that they had to read a book, though many children bought an extra book to fill their imagination and it thrilled Harry to help them find those books. He loved listening to their favorites and suggesting titles to them that Hermione had suggested to him. When Harry heard a book that he had not read yet, he kept the title stored away in the back of his mind until the store was closing. Then he would pick up the book and take it up to his loft to read. Most books only took one day to a week to read and Harry was soon over flooded with knowledge of adventures, mysteries, and magic.

There was one girl who came into the store just before October that really intrigued Harry. Her name was Luna Lovegood and she was the strangest, most interesting person he had ever had the pleasure to meet. When she walked into the store on the twenty-fifth, wearing a lime green tutu over multicolored leggings with a ruffled shirt on top. A huge rainbow knitted sweater that stopped below her knees was falling off her shoulder on one side and her blonde hair was spilling all over her, it's curls reached down to her waist. There were flowers and leaves weaved into the tresses and looked like they had just grown out of her head. Luna wore no make up yet her face was beautiful and free, full of life and happiness and a sense of understanding that Harry could not understand himself.

Luna looked around the shop once and headed straight to where Harry stood, staring at her.

"Hello. I was looking for a book on herbs. Do you have any suggestions?" Under her hair, Harry could make out turnip shaped earrings dangling down from pointed ears. Harry did not know what to say for a moment before opening his mouth and blurting,

"Um, do you have vegetables in your hair?" She only smiled at him and lifted her hair away to show him.

"Yeah, turnips, they're my favorite for the moment. They're also real so if I get hungry, I can just eat them. My dad grows them in the garden. Aren't they lovely?"

"That's interesting. How'd you think of something like that? I mean normal people don't make their plants into earrings, right? I mean I wouldn't but then again I don't have earrings…" He finished his painfully awkward sentence without really finishing it because he had no idea what he was trying to say. "I do think they are lovely." Luna smiled widely at him.

"Thank you. Ooh, I've been so rude. I'm Luna Lovegood, and you are?"

"Harry Potter." He stuck out his hand, but she pushed it away and gave him a hug.

"Oh, we're going to be fast friends I think. I quite like you!" And with that, she walked out of the store again. Harry was going to call out for her that she forgot that she had asked for gardening books, but she was already out the door before he could open his mouth.

A/N: So what do you think? Please review. I think there are a few people who are following this story, unless you've stopped because I take so long to upload, which I'm very sorry for. It would be very helpful for me to know what you are thinking about this story. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. :D


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Remus Lupin was walking down an empty street on his way home from work. He had always loved walking through Hogwarts Town at night, the whole world asleep while he was awake, alone. As he walked the neon signs from the stores he passed screamed at him, pleading for his attention. He loved to look at them, no matter how much hurt his eyes. These lights were so free and bold. It did not matter to them what kind of a person you are or what you looked like as long as they could sell you something, as long as they could grab you. The only thing the neon lights cared about were attention. They were demanding and yet never attacked anyone or scared anyone. They were just there, always the same, yet prominent and open for everyone to see. They were free, like he was now.

It felt like years ago since he had been imprisoned, not in a jail, but in his own house. In reality, it was about three, probably less. Remus had grown up in a very rich household. There were servants and full utensil-ized meals. He was always dressed nicely and had to act a certain way in public. His only 'friends' were snobbish rich children who had no clue that they were being brainwashed about life and complained about everything from the pattern in the carpet to the taste of the strawberry pudding they stuffed themselves with for dessert. Remus had never even made a real snowball until he was seventeen, the age he was when he had escaped, nor had he had a real physical fight with another boy, played a video game, or yelled at his parents.

All of that changed the year Remus had turned sixteen. The only reason it had changed was because of one person, and one person only and that person was Sirius Black. He was came from a family of high social status and money as well but he rebelled against it. He wore all the wrong things, talked back, gotten high and drunk and had sex with anything with two legs and a nice pair of lips. He had piercings and more than one tattoo and rode a very loud motorcycle. He was everything that Remus wished he could be. Remus soon became a loyal puppy-like follower while Sirius took the reigns and showed him what life was really about and they became best friends faster than you could say 'blood-traitor' which were the very words Remus' mother had screamed at him before disowning him.

At first, Remus would hide things from his family, pretending he was going to the local library to look for reading other than what was in the enormous one in the Lupin Manor. He kept a box under his bed with regular 'peasant' clothes in it and irregular things such as eyeliner and hair dye- not that he could ever use it without them realizing. But then he stopped caring what they thought. He dyed his hair completely bright green with blue highlights, pierced his ear, eyebrow and belly, and wore pedestrian clothing all the time. His parents, as parents often do, thought it was a phase and he would get over it soon, but a month turned into six and then finally a year which was when his mother drew the line and kicked him out of the house. He went straight to Sirius.

They had a fun three weeks celebrating Remus's freedom. They went out and got drunk almost every night. Sirius basically held an orgy at his own house for a record breaking five days during which Remus discovered his love for cock.

And then Remus woke up one morning with puke and bodily fluids dried to his entire being and decided that it was too much. He could not live like this no matter how much fun it was. Sirius helped him get a flat in the week following and Remus relaxed.

With no prestigious school to attend to, Remus built up a portfolio of drawings and paintings that he had been working on and started a small art class in his apartment which helped pay for the rent since the money from the bookstore that he worked at did not really add up to much. He and Sirius went out at least once a week and did everything they could think of. Sirius decided, however, about a year later that he wanted to see the world and bought a ticket for a one way flight to France. He had been gone a week when Remus started to miss him though they kept in contact. Three months later, Sirius popped up on Remus's doorstep in the middle of the night and scaring the hell out of the poor man. It turned out he missed Hogwarts too much to stay away. Remus thought that Sirius had just missed him too much, but said nothing, celebrating the warm feeling in his heart quietly. That day was the day that Remus had realized that he was in love with his crazy friend. It was also the day he began to hate that bit of himself that loved someone who obviously did not feel the same way about him and for the person that he loved being the one person he could confide in which meant that he had no one to talk about his feelings with. So he kept it inside, tucked away and hidden.

Today while walking through the empty lit roads, Remus decided to just got home, sit down on the old couch and watch some television to unwind and try not to think about Sirius too much- which was easier said then done. As he descended the steps which led to the subway, he mentally flipped through the movies he had at home. He was grateful that Sirius was not going to be around tonight. It was nice to have some alone time and going to a club was not high on Remus's agenda at the moment. But of course, things never went as planned and when Remus stepped into his flat, he came face to face with the only person he had ever given a key to, Sirius Black.

"Wha- But- Sirius! You were supposed to be out clubbing with Peter, why the hell are you in my flat?"

"Chill, Moony, Wormtail had some stupid business thing he had to do so he bailed. I got bored so I decided to hang out with you. Wanna go out?" Remus glared at him and moved towards the kitchen.

"No. Just for this one time, no. I'm tired and I want to relax and I hate seeing you with-" Remus covered his mouth with his hands. He had almost said 'I hate seeing you with other men'. If Sirius caught it, Remus was sure to be doomed, but thankfully, Sirius was as oblivious as ever and just bounded after his friend as he made his way through the flat.

"Ok, fine, so let's not go out then. Why don't we watch a movie or sneak onto the roof with hot chocolate and watch the stars or lay in bed and talk or have a pillow fight or..." Remus blocked Sirius's ramblings from his head as he walked around the kitchen preparing a small sandwich for himself before finally cutting the other man off.

"Sirius. Sirius! Stop!" Sirius grinned at him and flopped down on one of the kitchen table chairs. He began drumming his hands on the plastic wood in front of him until Remus placed a warm hand over them. Sirius looked up at Remus with a soft smile and stilled his hands, twisting them upward so that they were holding each other. Warmth shot through Remus like lightning and he jerked away suddenly, not noticing the way Sirius's smile faltered at the sudden movement.

He sat down opposite from Sirius. "I was thinking of just watching whatever was on T.V. sound good?"

"Yeah. It'll be nice to take a little break from... from everything." Remus nodded and took a small bite from his sandwich. "Can you pick though, I don't know what I want to watch." Remus inclined his head as he chewed. It was nice that Sirius was opening up. This was the side of him that Remus loved the most. The side that thought things through and made good decisions and understood problems and sought to help people out. It was the restful, peaceful side that made Sirius who he was. And even though at the moment, he was a bit down, it meant the world to Remus just to know that Sirius cared enough about him to take down the walls around himself.

That night, Remus lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Sirius was laying down next to him, on his stomach. They had talked for a while after the movie, catching up and checking in, talking about their week and making sure everything was ok. If this had not happened every time he and Sirius decided to take a relaxing day, than Remus would have thought the whole things was a bit intimate, but knowing Sirius, it definitely was not. They had stopped talking about thirty minutes ago and Sirius was already snoring softly into the sheets while Remus could not keep his eyes closed for more than a minute. Silently, he shifted to his side and kissed Sirius on the forehead lightly, wishing that being friends with him was enough. But it was not, it never was.

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Blaise was fuming. Draco was pretty sure that if he looked closely enough, he would be able to see tiny streams of smoke emanating from his nostrils. Of course the boy had a good reason to be upset, but he just looked like he was going to blow up. Draco reached a hand out to try to get Blaise to calm down, but Blaise smacked it away.

"What? I'm trying to help, Blaise, Geez..." Blaise just shook his head and walked away. "Look, I'm sorry I invited Pansy to the party, I didn't realize she would do anything like that, I thought she was better now. Obviously I was wrong, but it's not my fault and I'm sorry anyway. Blaise, common..." Blaise refused to acknowledge Draco's pleading and turned left at the end of the hall and disappeared into his room. Draco shook his head and sat down on a chair nearby.

Last night had been crazy and there was still debris and random objects all over the flat. For Halloween, Draco and Blaise had decided to have a party so they could meet Neville's friends and have a good time. Of course, it had gone all wrong, what else in Draco's life had gone right anyway? They decided to invite people who they knew as well and Draco thought that Blaise's exgirlfriend was an acceptable invitee but the moment she had stepped into the room, she sought out Blaise and made it look like they were still involved causing Neville to get upset and tell Blaise they were over and he was leaving. Afterwards, Blaise had gotten disgustingly over-the-top drunk and passed out only to woken up a few hours later by the offendingly bright sun streaming through an open window.

Blaise threw himself onto his bed the moment the door slammed behind him. His head was pounding and hot steamy tears poured down his cheeks and stained the sheets. He realized he could easy explain the whole situation to Neville and it would all be better but the fact that Neville did not trust him enough was the thing that hurt the most. For Neville to fall for Pansy's act and completely disregard everything that mattered in a few short meaningless minutes meant more to Blaise than getting Neville back.

He loved Neville with all his heart and had even told him so. It had been the first time he told anyone that he loved them aside from family and Draco and it had been difficult- extremely difficult. Neville immediately kissed him and told him he loved him too. Did that mean nothing to Neville? Why did he not trust Blaise enough? How could Neville do this to him?

Slowly but surely, Blaise drifted off to a restless sleep, his pounding head creating nightmares which caused him to twist and turn in the covers of the bed while he dreamed. Draco stopped in to drop off a cup of water and a pain relieving pill. He left quickly and went to his own room, stepping around trash and broken things that scattered the floor on his way, not bothering to pick them up.

In the month following Halloween, Blaise drifted. He stopped caring about certain things that he used to cherish, stopped going out. Draco tried to get him up and talk to Neville, who had called every day starting two weeks after his departure. Draco even made Pansy come in and apologize and explain to Neville what she had done. But to no avail. Blaise was becoming catatonic and refused to see anyone but Draco which was difficult on both of them.

The one time Draco brought Neville to Blaise, Blaise had curled into a ball and sat silently until Neville left. When he was gone, Blaise picked up the closest thing to him and threw it against the wall. The glass, so beautiful in its shattered state littered the floor casting thousands of rainbow sparkles that floated around the room and making Blaise even more upset then before. The shards had not been picked up yet.

Draco had gone to the bookstore twice since Halloween, but every time he went, the mysterious boy who had worked there was busy and was not around. Today, December third, Draco decided to try his luck once more.

"Hello, how can I help you today?" A nice looking man, probably two or three years older than Draco, asked as Draco walked into the bookshop.

"I was actually wondering about one of the people who work here, I just wanted to know if he was free for a lunch or something..." Draco finished lamely. The young man just smiled and nodded.

"Do you mean Harry? Crazy black hair and green eyes? Kinda skinny?"

"Yeah, is he in today?"

"He's out with Hermione. I think they're getting lunch."

Draco's happy expression faded to a disappointed and hurt one in an instant in response to Remus's answer. Why did he think Harry was gay? It was not like he knew him at all. Why had he gotten his hopes up for nothing?

With his shoulders slumped and his chin pointed towards his chest, he walked out into the midday autumn afternoon. If he had looked up for just a second, he would have seen Harry and Hermione walking towards the store laden with bags of chinese food and speaking about Hermione and Ron's date the next day. If Draco had looked up, he would have seen Harry's started face when he saw the blond. He would have seen how Harry's face turned bright red and his green eyes shone with delight at the sight of the man. But Draco did not look up and opened his car door. He did not hear Harry shout to him and pulled out of the lot and drove away.

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"Damn." Harry said under his breath as he watched the gorgeous man drive away. Hermione looked at him.

"You know who he is. Why don't you just call him or something?"

"Are you an idiot? I'd look like some freaky stalker. We haven't even talked once how can I call him and ask for a date if we don't even know each other?"

"I might now someone who knows him actually. Or someone who knows someone who knows him."

"What?"

"Well Ron went to school with this kid named Neville. They weren't really friends but Ron's sister Ginny knows him pretty well since they had some science classes together I think. Anyway. Neville invited Ginny to a Halloween party he has having with his boyfriend- Zambini or something. I don't know. Ginny asked Ron is he wanted to go and he asked me but we decided we'd rather stay in the shop with you since we hadn't really gotten together yet which made things a bit awkward- I'm sure you remember... So Ginny was ranting to Ron about this blond model who was at the party. And when she asked Neville who he was he said he was Draco Malfoy and was rooming with Zambosal or what ever his name was! Can you believe that?"

"Um, well, wow..."

"So what I was thinking, since you failed to get his attention just now- no offense-, you could ask Ron to ask Ginny to ask Neville to get Zambia and Draco to host another party and invite us this time. That way we all win. Neville gets to be with Zoolander more and you get to get Draco and Ron and I can go to a real party and not to some dirty old club! Let's go find Ron!"

When Harry and Hermione walked into the bookstore, Hermione almost dragging Harry along, their jaws dropped in astonishment when they saw the Ron was actually working. He was standing behind the counter, ringing up an old lady's purchase and behind her were a line of people waiting to pay as well. He was laughing with the old women, though it looked rather forced from where they were standing.

Ron waved to them before calling the next person over to the counter and began talking to the customer. Hermione told Harry that she would speak to Ron when he was done working "for a change" and he went of in search of Remus or Mrs. Pince, hoping he would bump into Remus first. he wanted to ask him about relationships and get some tips so that if Hermione managed to get this party together than he would know what to do to get Draco Malfoy's attention.

Unfortunately, Remus was in the middle of helping a disgruntled looking twelve year old find a book for her friend who only like princesses and ponies. Harry though that was strange for a girl of that age, but what did he know?

Mrs. Pince was in the back room looking over papers with glasses perched on her nose that threatened to slide off completely. She did not look up as he walked in and not even when he went to stand beside her. He read over her shoulder but could not make head nor tail of the figures that scattered the pages that littered the desk.

"Oh! Hello, child, i did not see you there. I am just going over a few things. Could you help me? Here, sit next to me and file the ones I hand you into that drawer over there. Yes, that one. Just slip it in the year it belongs to... that's it!"

Silence penetrated the small room except from the random ruffles of paper that were moved through the still air. Harry sat pensively, reflecting on everything he knew about relationships, not that he knew very much. He had never been able to have friends, let alone girlfriends or boyfriends for that matter. He had not even been introduced to another person other than his sometimes babysitter who was not very nice. Everything he knew came from books or from watching how Hermione and Ron interacted but even then, that did not really count. So, in the end, he did not really know much of anything about relationships at all.

He let out a sigh that Mrs. Pince heard and she turned to him.

"Are you alright, Mr. Potter?"

"Just... just not really sure about some things."

"Such as what?"

"Such as relationships and boyfriends and girlfriends and stuff like that. I don't know anything about any of that and I guess i kind of want to... I don't know."

"Well that's very usual, dear, everyone has doubts and questions too. You said 'boyfriends' first. Are you gay, perhaps? Or bisexual?" Seeing the look on his face, Mrs. Pince smiled, "Just because I am an old women does not mean I am opposed to everything. You can tell me, I'll accept you, you have my solemn oath."

Harry smiled a very small smile and nodded, "Yeah, I guess I am, though I haven't had experience in either girls or boys though. I guess the reason I've been thinking about it is well... remember a few weeks ago, there was an article in the paper about Draco Malfoy being disowned?"

"Yes, continue."

"Well I had talked to him earlier that day for like a second and I saw him again today and I just can't get him out of my head. Hermione is setting up a party with Ron so that I can see him again and hopefully say something this time, but I have no idea how. I've never done anything like that before. I don't know how to get his attention or be boyfriend material or anything like that."

"Well, that certainly sounds like it might be frustrating for you, but I assure you that if you two start dating, once you get over the initial shock and realize it doesn't matter if you are following rules or anything and are just dealing with things the way that make you comfortable, then you will be fine. Good luck, Harry, but I don't think you will need it. You are a strong boy. What kind of man, or woman, would not want to be in a relationship with you?"

"Thanks Mrs. Pince, I'll think about it. I hope you're right."

"I'm always right, child."

They smiled at each other, Mrs. Pince grateful for the distraction from her very boring work and Harry thankful that she had given him some advice.

**A/N: So finally, after such a long time, there is the fourth chapter. I haven't found a beta still but I've gone through this chapter a million times so I hope it's not too bad. The fifth chapter is almost done but I will have to go over it many many times before I add it to the story unless I get a beta. :/ Anyway- hope you enjoyed this chapter :) Please review if you have a comment or a question. You can be assured that I will answer you as soon as I can. **


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five:

"Hey Neville, it's Ron." Ron said politely into his phone when he heard the line pick up.

"Hi Ron, haven't talked to you in a while, what's up?" Neville was sitting on his front porch twisting his hands through his scarf and watching pedestrians as they walked past him.

"Herms wanted me to ask you to throw a party because Blaise, but she doesn't know that you two broke up... so yeah, I'm not really sure what to do because I didn't tell her that you guys were over and she looked really excited...sorry man."

Neville sighed and shifted his weight into a more comfortable position. He tried not to feel the sadness that washed through his body as Ron said Blaise's name. Running his hand through his already shaggy hair, Neville considered the options. He could get Draco to host a party with or without Blaise's consent... but Blaise's reaction was what he was afraid of. It's worth a try... it'll be the last try though, I can't keep hurting Blaise. If this doesn't work, then I have to leave him alone.

"Hey, Neville, you still there?"

"Yeah... sorry... I was just thinking. How about this- I'll talk to Draco and see what he says and then I'll get back to you. 'K?"

"Yeah, sounds good, talk to ya later! Bye!" Ron snapped the phone shut and looked over his shoulder at Hermione sitting in a corner on the other side of the room. He wanted so much to go over to her, pull her into his arms and lower his face to hers and snog her senseless and tell her he loved her and...but they had not even gone on a date yet and he couldn't do those things until their relationship was more defined. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Have some patience, you idiot. He scolded himself. Hermione glanced over, feeling the weight of his stare on her, and smiled her warm smile that made Ron's heart just want to melt into his ribcage and his cheeks turn a bright red color...maybe I'll bake her something yummy, then she'd smile at me more and we could make food and eat it and sit next to each other and kiss and...Fuck! Ron mentally kicked himself and began to walk over to where Hermione was sitting.

"Hey" Ron muttered, sitting down next to the bushy-haired girl.

"Hi, Ron. I'm reading the most wonderful book! The main character reminds me a bit of Harry... anyway, how're you?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner somewhere... you know...cuz I asked you out but we, um, nevermadeplans" Ron looked down at his lap, fighting off his blush. Next to him, Hermione smiled with amusement.

"Yeah, sure, Ron. Where do you wanna go?" Ron looked up at her and smiled back, his blue eyes gleaming with happiness.

"Well, wherever you want I suppose, you know I'll eat anything!" She grinned.

"OK, well there's this restaurant that just opened that I've been dying to try..."

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"BLAISE! Get out of your fucking room and talk to me!" Draco banged on his friend's door one last time and pushed away, stalking towards to kitchen to get something to cool him down. Neville had just called him and asked him to find a way to get him one last chance with Blaise- a party. A freaking party._ After the last one we had, sounds like a marvelous idea, why didn't I think of that?_

As Draco was grabbing a glass from one of the shelves, he heard footsteps in the hall and almost thought he was going crazy. Blaise was never one to listen to him, especially when he was still upset from a major break-up yet here he was, listening for once.

Blaise glared moodily at the kitchen, daring the toaster to a fight, challenging the fridge with his fiery glare. Draco grabbed another glass and filled it with Mango Lemonade. They toasted each other silently, glaring at each other, and dived into their cups, gulping greedily at the substances within them. Blaise finished first and indicated for Draco to refill it. For the next fifteen minutes they said nothing, decidedly sipping their second cups slowly and meaningfully, lost in their own thoughts.

"I want to have another party. New Years is coming up soon and we already missed Thanksgiving. You don't have to do anything, I'll get the whole thing prepared, I just need your consent and your attendance. OK?"

"The last party we threw was a fucking disaster."

"Yeah well, it's been awhile since either of us have been at a party and I'm bored and who doesn't like a good New Years party? It'll be fun Blaise, I promise." Draco was pleading with his best friend, if he tried any harder he would have to kiss Blaise's feet as well. _What has this world come to?_

"Look, I understand but it's really hard, Draco, you know that. I really loved him." Blaise said quietly after a few minutes. "So let's have your party, but if Nev- Longbottom shows up, I'm leaving."

"That's fine with me, I just want to have a party." _Because it's not like Neville suggested it or anything_. But Blaise nodded and gulped down his drink again.

"Hey, can you go to the book store for me. There's a book that I've been meaning to get for a while."

"Um...sure. Why don't you come with me. Good to get out of the house, yeah? A little fresh air, the wind can sweep you off your feet and just carry you away..."

"Oh shut up, you prat. So I've been in the house for a while. So what? It's not like I'm just lying around." Draco gave him a withering look.

"Just come with me." Draco stood up and took their glass over to the sink.

Blaise, it turned out, had other plans, however, and when the two friends got in the car, he jumped in the front seat and they went shopping in the local mall. Blaise got a camera and Draco decided he'd go to the bookstore some other time. A few days before Christmas, Draco still needed the book. This time he left Blaise at home.

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Harry stood in front of his mirror looking at the clothes he was wearing. He had changed them at least a dozen time, picking through the garments that he had bought while shopping with Hermione a few weeks ago. When he got the "OK" for the party that Hermione had set up via Neville, he decided he wanted to look his absolute best to impress the blond man that he was so set on talking to.

Harry sighed as he pulled the outfit that he liked the most off his body and changed into jeans and a loose tee shirt. He slipped on his sneakers and then began to make his way down the stairs to the store. He smiled as he looked over the shelves of books that took up the space in the little shop and the comfy couches spread randomly throughout it. He loved the smell of this place, the sound of the ruffling pages, the sounds of people milling around and reading, asking questions, and discussing. It was such a wonderful place, this little world, a kingdom on its own island in the middle of a sea of stores and restaurants that made up a good portion of Hogwarts Town.

Harry jumped down the last few steps and headed over to the front of the store only to be stopped short by the sight of a man that walked through the doors just as he turned to look. It was Draco Malfoy. Harry's face flooded with color, his pulse seemed to quicken beneath his skin and something in his mind was screaming at him to runaway. Harry watched in delightful horror as the man who haunted his dreams turned towards him and smiled.

"Hi, I'm Draco Malfoy."

"Harry- Potter, Harry Potter. Um. Do you need something?" _Way to go Harry, you stupid ba-_

"Well I wanted to ask you out," Draco said. Harry's eyes widened in astonishment and then he blushed deeper.

"That's strange."

"What's strange?"

"Well my friend just invited me to a party at your house..." He looked down at his shoes.

"Wow. OK." Draco seemed just as embarrassed as Harry was for a second before wiping his face of emotion.

"Your friend Neville is friends with Ron who is my friend and he invited me and his girlfriend to your party. This is awkward..." Harry kicked the floor with the tip of his toe.

"Well, it is a bit, but it doesn't have to be. How 'bout this. Why don't we go to dinner before the party?"

"Oh that would be nice, but I'm warning you I'm pretty strange."

"Well, then, it's a date! I'll pick you up at seven- the party doesn't start until nine thirty anyway. Wear whatever you like," and with that, Draco handed Harry a piece of paper with his phone number one it, turned back around, completely forgetting the book he had come to get, and walked back to his car. By the time he remembered the reason for going to the bookstore, he was half way home and decided to just get it some other time. Right now, he had to plan.

Harry ran to where Mrs. Pince sat reading and hugged her.

"Guess what! He asked me out! Oh, Mrs. Pince, he asked me out!"

"That's wonderful, dear. I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time. Now I was looking over the shipment orders that came in yesterday and I was just going to come and find you. I think after the holidays, you should start unpacking some of those books."

"Yeah, sure." Harry, feeling a bit dejected made to walk away before she called him back.

"Oh, and Harry, Remus asked me to ask you what your favorite color was."

"Right now it's blue-ish grey, but I like green usually."

"Wonderful! And please tell Ronald to come back here for a minute."

"Ok." Harry walked out of the small room and back into the main one and located Ron. After he had gone to see Mrs. Pince, Harry jogged over to where Hermione sat, writing in a small notebook."Hey, whatcha writing?" He asked her as he sat on the floor beside her chair.

"Oh, you know, random thoughts. Hogwarts High School has a show in a few weeks. Do you want to go with Ron, his sister, and me? It's Cinderella. I know it sounds stupid, but the actors are usually really good for a hugh school group. I actually used to be in the theatre club, but I helped with directing."

"That sounds awesome. I didn't know Cinderella had a play, I mean Disney had some songs in it but not that many..."

"I think it was on Broadway or something for a little bit. Not really sure though" Hermione said as she moved her position on the couch so as to look at Harry better. "You look happy."

"Yeah... I just got some good news."

"Ooh, tell me!"

"Well, Draco Malfoy just walked in here and guess what he asked me?"

"Oh my god! He asked you out! That's awesome Harry, I'm really happy for you." Harry ducked his head, his cheeks flaming.

"Yeah, I mean it's only one date, but that's a start right? I mean I know one dinner doesn't really mean anything but maybe if I get to know him better..."

"It'll be fine, I'm sure." Hermione said and she patted his shouled.

"Thanks." They smiled at each other.

"So, does that mean I should order five tickets for the play instead of four?"

"I don't know, he only just asked me out. We'll see." Harry began paying with the carpet at his feet.

"OK. Oh I almost forgot! Remus was asking what your favorite color was."

"Mrs. Pince already asked me for him."

"Good. Well, I'm going to keep reading. I'll talk to you later, Harry."

"Yeah, later." Harry jumped up from his seat on the floor and headed off to find something to do. No one seemed to need him however, so he grabbed a book at random and sat in a nearby couch. As he began to read, a world of bunnies unfolded before his eyes- not something he would usually have read, but he did not want to get up from his seat to pick another, so he continued to read. About thirty minutes later, Ron plupped down next to him with a sketch pad in one hand and colored pencils in the other.

"She's making me make little pictures representing every genre there ever was! Can you believe that! I mean what am I even supposed to draw for the erotica section? A penis? I personally think words are enough for now, pictures are a bit overkill. I mean, what if some little kid comes in and sees it?"

"Just draw two hearts or lips or something. I'd help you but know know I'm shit at drawing. Maybe you should go talk to Hermione."

"I don't want to disturb her, you know how she is when people interrupt her." Harry was about to say that he had interrupted her not even an hour ago, but thought better of it and held his tongue. Just because he had celebrated his Draco-Malfoy-just-asked-me-out thing with Hermione and Mrs. Pince, didn't mean he wanted to talk about it with everyone.

Ron sighed and drew big red lips on a small square piece of paper and presented it to Harry with an expression that made Harry laugh.

"It's fine, Ron. Just do the other ones now." Ron scowled but did as he said and checked off 'Erotica' from the list. As he drew other pictures for the other genres of books, he muttered under his breath, cursing the blunt pencil tips and the lack of erasers. Harry just smiled to himself and continued reading his bunny story. The quiet peacefulness did not last very long, but Harry treasured it. It was moments like these which made Harry feel comfortable and warm inside and any moment to revel in it was a blessing.

The door to the bookstore opens again and a women walks through. Harry jumps up from his seat, dropping the bunny story on the couch and made his way over to her.

"Hello, I'm Harry. How can I help you?"

"Well my daughter and I are in a book club and we can't think of a book to suggest next week so I thought I should come in here and find a book."

Harry smiles at her. "How old is your daughter? Are there other kids in your club?"

"Yes. She's twelve and we have three other littles girls. All of their moms are a part of it as well. I guess we just need a book that's appropriate for them and interesting- but not too long because we have to actually finish reading it before we talk about it."

"Ok, I'll show you where the kids and young adult books are and then I'll send Hermione over to help you. She knows those books better than I do and I think she'll be able to help you out." Harry said as he led the woman over to a row of shelves. She thanked him and he headed to here Hermione sat, still writing in her note book.

"Hey, Hermione. Can you help that lady out? She just walked it, in the young adults section. She wants a book for her mother-daughter book club and the kids are twelve. I just don't know those stories as well. I was hoping you could help her 'cause you do."

"I'll do it this time. But Harry, this is your job. Next time you'll have to do it by yourself." She said fiercely before smiling innocently and nearly skipped to where the women stood, reading titles. Harry groaned to himself before walking back to where he had sat before. Ron was holding a piece of paper up, making silly expressions.

"Ron. What are you doing?"

"Does this look a dog or a bear? I can't tell."

"A bear."

"Ugh! Why can't I draw a convincing dog? I don't understand."

"Why did you agree to doing this anyway? I mean you don't seem to be very good at drawing." Ron made an annoyed face a him.

"I can draw but not these kinds of things. Dragons and monsters and stuff like that you know, not stupid little things like dogs or bears or- well actually lizards are ok, but still all this tiny cute stuff is like a foreign language to me."

"At least you can draw things. I can other draw stick-men and trees."

"Yeah but you can do other things."

"Yeah? Like what? Show people where to find the books they're looking for? That's not a talent." Ron stared at him, taken aback by his sudden outburst. "Sorry- lot on my mind." Harry muttered before flopping back down on the sofa and picking up the bunny book again. Ron looked at him sadly for a second before returning to his drawings.

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"So how was your day, Sirius?"

"Aren't I supposed to ask that question first?"

"Yeah, but my days are always the same. Well except for when Harry came and then when Hanna dropped that tub of yellow paint on the floor."

Remus and Sirius were sitting across from each other. It was the third time this week that they had stayed in and had a "take it easy" night which was very unusual. Remus was starting to get this tingly feeling inside that never went away. Maybe he wants to be around me. Maybe he cares about me in more than a lets-go-out-and-get-drunk way. Maybe...

"Fine then. I visited Wormtail in the morning. His house is absolutely disgusting- like stacks of dirty dishes and it smells like dog piss. And then I was going to get lunch with him before heading off to the club for a few drinks but he had to go off again so I went by myself- met a lovely little blonde kid. Got his number, but I'm not gonna call him back." Sirius said, finishing his words in a sing-songy way, grinning from ear to ear. Remus smirked back.

"You dog!"

"You know it! And so did he, but that didn't stop him from buying me a drink. It was actually kind of weird though. I mean I go to Hog's Head a lot, but usually there aren't many people there during the day. This time it was packed- lots of people to grind on It was awesome!"

"Wow."

"I know."

"Wait- why aren't you calling him? You said he was lovely," Sirius stared at him for a second before looking down at his feet.

"Yeah, for the moment, but I prefer men to boys."

"But you're only a few years older than him. We're not that old."

"Yeah but... Remus, come on."

"Fine, fine. Anyway you'll never guess what happened today in class."

"Oh, god. I don't know I want to hear this," Sirius threw his hands over his ears in mock terror. Remus just gave him a look before plunging into his story

"Well we were doing models today- remember how I was telling you how hard it was to find volunteers? Yeah so this guy comes in and at first I thought he was a student- he didn't fit the description of the model at all. But he walked in and started stripping. So this guy, no offense to him or anything, but he was huge and ugly, like super ugly, like what you would imagine a sumo wrestler looks like when it's crossed with something gross. it was terrible. Anyway, the kids are looking at me like I've gone mad and Jeromie actually asked the guy why he was taking off his clothes. Oh, god, I was so embarrassed. Because we've been working on drawing people but looking for muscles and bones and stuff to use to help the drawing out, but this guy had no muscle at all. So I asked him if he could wait a moment while I talked to the kids. I mean, eventually it was alright and the everyone settled down and drew the man but..."

Sirius was laughing, his head shoulders shaking and Remus had an urge to reach over and push him down on the bed and bite his skin right where his shoulder came in contact with his neck. Remus stared at the skin above Sirius' shirt line and blinked at how edible it looked. And then Sirius nudged his knee, bringing his mind back to the surface, ashen faced and burning with shame.

"Sorry, just drifted off for a second."

"Remus, you were staring at my neck like you wanted to eat me or something. Are you hungry or arre you just a vampire? 'Cause that's just weird. But honestly, your day was a lot more interesting than mine."

"Yeah, I guess. Um. I'll just go get an apple, you want something?"

"Nah, I'll just take a bite from you," Remus made a face at him before getting up and heading for the kitchen, When he got there, he leaned his elbows on the counter and dropped his head into his hands. He didn't notice Sirius come in until he felt arms slipping around his waist and a strong chest pressing against his back.

"Remus. You're hiding something from me and it makes me sad."

"Padfoot..."

"No. I won't push you but you know I'll listen to anything."

_Not this, Sirius, not this. You'll be halfway out the door when I tell you what's going on with me. You'll leave me, and I can't have that._ Remus thought to himself before nodding against his neck. Sirius pulled his arms back and leaned against the table. Remus turned around and faced him, moving to sit on the counter.

"It's fine, Sirius, I just... it's hard and I think you'll probably hate me or something after I tell you so I'd rather we just forget this and watch a movie and get popcorn. Or something else if you want."

"OK. I'll make popcorn, you pick out the movie."

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"Draco, look what I drew while you were off talking to your onetruelove" Draco looked up at his friend from behind a crumpled newspaper and smiled. Standing across the room, Blaise was holding up a piece of paper in front of his chest. From where Draco was sitting, it looked like a jumble of colors with no meaning at all but when he dropped the paper and moved closer, he realized it was a drawing of a ball of beautiful tiny birds, all in different colors and positions.

"That's wonderful, Blaise. Why don't we put it on the fridge?" Blaise stuck his tongue out at him but moved towards the kitchen. Draco went to fetch the clear tape. When they met back at the refrigerator, Blaise gave him a small kiss on the cheek and smiled.

"I'm not a bloody kid anymore, Dray."

"Really? I would never have guessed." Draco had to dance out of the way to avoid Blaise's wiggling fingers that were a result of his comment.

"No but really Blaise, it's wonderful. You should draw more things. Maybe if you get better, you can enter it in some contest and win something and become famous and give me all your money because you love me."

"You wish. But thanks" Blaise smiled and then his face lit up. He sprinted to his room and returned a moment later carrying his camera. "I'll send a picture of the 'fridge to Mom. She'll love it and her birthday's coming up. Maybe I'll draw her something too."

"Yeah," Draco said as he waited for Blaise to snap the picture so he could grab the frozen lemonade from the freezer. He reached into the draws under the kitchen counter looking for spoons. Finally he found them with the chopsticks and pulled them out triumphantly. When Blaise realized what he was doing, he practically skipped to the to the next room. Draco followed him a few minutes later and they opened up the boardgame Blaise had picked out. Sitting on the ground with the legs crossed and spoons in their hands, they played the game, reaching over to the frozen lemonade tub occasionally and scraping off a spoonful.

I wonder when we have to stop acting like kids and grow up, Draco thought to himself as they played their game.

AN: Hi guys. Yes its been a while, but i guess thats just what happens... sorry about that. Also, please remember that I am not a good writer in general so if the characters are too horribly written for you or something like that, i completely understand. again, no beta so if there are spelling mistakes, i apologize for those as well. on a happier note- school is almost over and I have 2 pages written for the next chapter. also, my explanation about them not having a big Christmas thing: Christmas had been a nonevent for Harry and basically everyone else he knew. In Hogwarts Town, religion was not celebrated as much and most people only participated in the holidays that allowed time off. While there was a winter break in the schools in town around the time of Christmas, not many people were inclined to make a huge ordeal out of the holiday. Of course, families served nicer dinners and exchanged small gifts, but it was a very small production. Harry ate dinner with Mrs. Pince. Ron and Hermione went over to Ron's house to eat with family. Remus and Sirius went out and got drunk. There were not many gifts exchanged and it was like any day. Draco got an invitation to a ball his father was holding, turned a lighter onto it, and threw it in the trash.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN1: So I know I don't usually have a note at the top, but I think this time, I probably should. In this chapter, there are lyrics from two songs, Somebody Like You by Adele and Accidentally in Love from Shrek, and stuff about the hospital in Hogwarts Town. There in medical stuff that I kind of just made up based on the things I imagine in my head so I'm not sure if it makes sense or is realistic, so if you are offended or annoyed because I got things wrong, please don't get too mad because this is just a story and I am just a person and I don't know everything. I apologize in advance and hope you enjoy this chapter anyway :)**

Chapter 6:

"Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead... So she said, 'What's the problem Baby?' What's the problem I don't know, Well maybe I'm in love, love, think about it every time, I think about it, can't stop thinking about love. How much longer will it take to-" Harry was bouncing around his small room with the radio turned up as high as possible without making his ears bleed.

"What _are_ you doing, Harry?" Remus shouted at the top of his lungs, cutting through Harry's very loud and very horrible singing. Harry froze, his mind jumping from Shrek to the fact that he was actually in his room and not in a swap with bugs and mud everywhere. He ran to press the power button on the radio and tripped on the way. Remus laughed.

"Laundry?" He said as innocently as he could

"Yeah sure. Anyway I came up here to ask if you wanted something special for lunch. I know it's your day off, but we do like eating with you and my friend, Sirius, is here. You haven't met him yet, but..."

"Thanks, but today I think I'd rather just stay up here. I need some time to clear my head."

"Can I ask why?"

"No sorry, but have a good lunch, I'll meet Sirius some other time. Tell him that I'm sorry for not coming down today."

"Oh, ok. Well see you around."

"Yea, bye." Harry said as he turned away waving his hand and heading back over to his radio. He turned it back on but with the volume lower so he wouldn't disturbing the munchers below.

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"You know, Hermione, we've been working here for a while but it's already into the school year and you've never said anything about college. I thought that was the kind of thing you would want to do." Remus said one day as he and Hermione as one of the couches of the book store.

She glanced up at him, clearing the story she was reading out of her head and focused on him thoughtfully. "Well, when I was applying for colleges, my guidance counselor at school suggested that I take a year off after school. Not because of being a bad student or anything, obviously, but he said that it might do me some good to take a break and since I got accepted into a few different places that I wanted to go to, it seemed like a good idea. I managed to get a thing where the school keeps my placement in school for a year so I can do other things. One of my friends, Maggie, went to England for the year with the same kind of thing."

"That's so cool. I mean, I would love to have that kind of opportunity, but I guess I've always been happy to just not go to school, and the art classes are going well for me. It's strange because I my parents always told me to get good grades to get into a good college so I could get an upstanding job, but I didn't really do any of those things."

"Yeah, I guess everyone does their own thing. Most of my friends went to school this year, but I don't really mind. Ron is applying to colleges now. He didn't get into the two he applied to- he should have applied to more in the first place anyway. But taking the year off so far has been wonderful and reading books all day counts for something too. I have a blog where I could review all the books that I read. I sent it to the university with my application stuff so that while they allowed me to take the year off, they know I actually am doing something productive."

"Awesome. Which colleges did Ron try to get into" They both glanced over to where Ron was standing, strumming his hands on the registrar desk in front of him and staring off into nothing.

"He applied for scholarships at really high up schools because he plays football, but he was completing against so many people it makes sense that he didn't get in. It's terrible but that's life. I think that by working here, he's saving up money for college, though probably one that isn't so big. College is expensive and he has six other siblings so it might be hard for them... you know."

"Yeah I know, it was kind of the same for Sirius for a while, but then he just decided to stay with the job he was at and he hasn't gone to college. I guess we're both a bit old now for it."

"Maybe you guys could do online classes?" She asked and he laughed.

"Yeah, like Sirius would ever agree to that. Anyway, it's nice to hear that you got plans." They smiled at each other until Hermione felt a bit awkward and asked him about books he read when he was in high school.

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It was finally the day of the party. Harry and Hermione checked over this outfit for the day and made sure that it looked good enough for a date and a party and that they weren't forgetting some amazing piece of clothing or something in his very small closet. After about an hour of going through the clothes he had and listening to an album that Ron made for Harry, they decided everything was good and that he was ready.

Mrs. Pince had closed the bookshop for the day as it was New Years and none of her workers seemed to be able to focus on anything but themselves and event coming up.

Remus had a talk with her yesterday about his best friend, Sirius. They talked about his feelings for him and how it was hard to be in the same room with him and his fears about making his desires known. Mrs. Pince had been very surprised when Remus came to her at first but accepted his trust immediately and she was very happy he opened up to her. They ended up sitting down the back room on the store and making a list of pros and cons for what would happen if he told Sirius what was going on in his heart. It was a very hard thing for Remus to do and Mrs. Pince often had to push him a bit to get him to let his feelings out. They came close to tears at some points and laughing rather loudly at others, but they made it through. Remus had not decided if he wanted to do anything yet because he was scared, so Mrs. Pince suggested that he sleep on the idea and figure it out as time went on. He thanked her and they moved on to discuss his art classes.

Today however, Remus was at home and setting up a huge party at his apartment with the help of Sirius, who, in all seriousness, was not helping much at all. In fact, hte was lounging with his feet propped up on the coffee table watching as Remus put up a streamer across the living room wall.

"You know Remus, I've been thinking. We should tell Wormtail to invite some of his friends along as well, 'cause he has a lot of connections and we could get some _stuff_ and chill out a bit. It would be fun."

"Sirius. No. I've told you a million times, we aren't inviting people over here to get high. Drunk is fine but I don't want us getting busted for having weed in my apartment. Maybe if the party was at your flat... but it isn't, so drop it."

Sirius raised an eyebrow at him, "Ok, ok, calm down, Remy, I was just saying. I'll tell Wormtail not to bring his stash or extra people, yeah? Why don't you just come and sit next to me and relax a bit? You're so _tense_. Come on." He patted the couch seat next to him and Remus sighed before tossing the tape on the floor and throwing himself on the couch next to his best friend.

"Moony, I know last time I asked you what was wrong, you told me I would hate you, but you know I never would. Can you please let me help you? I'm serious. And I don't mean that as in my name is Sirius, I mean that in-"

"I know what you mean, Padfoot, but I really-"

"No, just hear me out ok?" Sirius said, turning his head to look directly into Remus's eyes and Remus nodded his head reluctantly, "You've been my best friend since we were sixteen. We've done everything together from talking about random things to throwing an orgy in the old apartment. An orgy, Remus, an _orgy_."

Remus grinned a bit, "You can stop saying 'orgy', Sirius, I get it."

"I know, but I love that word. Just listen to it. Orgy... orgy... orgy, orgy, orgy. Ok, I'll stop." Sirius stuck his tongue out before erecting a somber expression upon his usually lively face. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that no matter what you think, I'll listen to anything you have to say. That doesn't mean that I'll like everything, but still, I care about you too much to just throw you away for one thing. Remus, you're really important to me, Ok? I just want you to know, or at least try to understand, that I'm always here for you, whenever you need me. I hope you'll tell me what's bothering you soon because I want to be there for you as much as I possibly can. It doesn't have to be today or tomorrow or even next week, but as soon as you feel comfortable, please talk to me."

They looked at each other rather intently before Remus nodded and then asked if Sirius wanted some hot chocolate. The dark haired rebel nodded his head and nestled down in the couch as Remus got up and walked slowly over to the kitchen, needing these few moments or mindless cooking to compose himself.

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Not far away from our pair of very down hearted friends, Harry Potter was pacing his extremely small living space trying to make up his mind on whether or not he should go downstairs and wait for Draco or stay up here and wait for him to ring the bell. As he he paced his useless television set, he heard a noise from downstairs. He waited a moment, straining to hear it again. He heard nothing and kept pacing, but about a minute later, he heard a definite crash from the bookstore and nearly toppled over the kitchen table to get to his front door.

He ran head long down the stairs, and quickly turned his spare store key into the lock. He looked wildly around the dark store for some sign of a disturbance and was about to give up and call himself crazy, when he heard a whimper coming from Mrs. Pince's office.

Harry rushed over to the closet like room to find a sight that made him jolt back in horror. Mrs. Pince was face first on the carpeted ground with her legs almost completely covered by a book file cabinet that had fallen on top of her.

Without stopping to make sure Mrs. Pince was ok, Harry ran to the entrance of the store, skidded behind the desk and picked up the phone that they rarely ever used. He called Hermione, the first person who came to mind and the first contact on the list of contacts that was placed next to the phone.

After a very long ten minutes, Hermione and Harry watched as Mrs. Pince was placed into an ambulance and taken to the hospital. Ron ran around the corner in time to see the medical vehicle speed away. The three of them ran to Ron's truck that he had parked in the on the side of the road and Ron stepped on the gas.

Harry had never been in Ron's car before. It was an old minivan, his parents had probably given it to him when they bought a new one. He remembered how Dudley had thrown a fit last year when his parents had given him an old car instead of buying him a new one and ended up losing an argument with his parents for the first time in years. Harry had been scrubbing out a pot at the sink when this had gone down, not saying a word. He was glad no one had asked him if he had a license to drive yet because it was hard enough coming up with excuses for a lot of things about himself already and he did not want to have to make up another unnecessary lie.

The car was silent as it made its way through the streets of Hogwarts Town. It was getting dark outside, party goers and wanderers were coming out on the streets. Every now and then they passed a family or a child walking home or to a friends house and suddenly, sitting the old, strangely comfy truck, a feeling for dread and unease sank into the pit of Harry's stomach and seemed to fill up his mind, his body, the air. It felt difficult to breathe and Hermione gave him worried looks every once in awhile, having to turn her torso towards him in order to do so. He ignored her though and opted to just stare at the pedestrians from the window that rattled every time the car passed over a bump in the road.

Ron parked in the visitors parking lot of Hogwarts Hospital and the three friends jumped out of the car and walked as fast as they could to the front desk to ask Dr. Pomfrey where they could find Mrs. Pince. It took a bit too long as Dr. Pomfrey was reluctant to give them the information and ended up telling them to sit in the waiting room and wait for another doctor to come find them to give them information. There was an awkward moment when the front desk lady asked Harry, Ron, and Hermione how they were related to Mrs. Pince before they said they were family by friendship. Dr. Pomfrey gave them a weird look before giving them the directions to the waiting room.

"Harry, you should go home. You have a date with Draco and you shouldn't miss it." Hermione said as they sat down in the tiny, plastic seats that were provided in the room.

He shook his head, "Mrs. Pince is more important than a date. Maybe after we figure this out, I'll go to his party and apologize but I think it's more important that I stay here for now and I just want to make sure she's ok. It was really scary seeing her like that." The other two nodded before lapsing into a tense silence.

An hour passed and there was still no word from a doctor and Hermione began to get anxious. "She's really old, I mean, not really _really_ old, but old enough, you know. What if- what if she's dead? I don't want to think about it but really, it is a possibility."

"I don't think so. The files fell on her legs. Something might have broken but I don't think it's as serious as death," Harry muttered.

"I know, I know, I'm just worried."

"Yeah, we all are, this whole situation is a bit weird. How does a bookshelf, especially a heavy one, fall on top of someone? I mean, aside from someone pushing it over. It's really sturdy. I climbed on it before...," Ron said, before realizing he was rambling and quickly changed the subject, "Should we call Remus? He's closer to her than any of us, they're basically are family."

Harry nodded and Hermione pulled out her cell phone and passed it to Ron, "Can you call? I don't think I can."

"Sure," Ron said as he took the phone from her. He turned and started to make his way out of the hospital to place his call.

By the time Ron got back into the waiting room, there was a doctor talking to Harry and Hermione, who were both looking slightly relieved though still shaken up.

"...stay here the night while we fix everything up and then tomorrow she can come home. I suggest you inform an adult to keep her in a bed for a few weeks until she heals and then get her a physical therapist so that she can regain strength in her leg. Actually, I'd rather talk to one of your parents. I'd rather relay the information to them personally."

Ron piped up, "Remus is going to be here in fifteen minutes. He's an adult and he's really close to Mrs. Pince. He'll get everything figured out."

"And of course we'll help in anyway we can," Hermione said, nudging Ron in the belly, annoyed that he accepted that the doctor was calling them children.

Doctor S. Mungo, as his name tag read, nodded to the children and told them he would return in thirty minutes to speak to Remus. The waiting room was silent as they waited for Remus. No one knew what to say or how to act so they just sat, staring at the boring greyish walls of Hogwarts Hospital. The minutes dragged by and the clock on the wall ticked dismally in a corner, almost impossible to hear. Finally, finally, Remus walked through the doors and jogged over to them.

"What happened? Ron called but he just said you guys were in the hospital and Mrs. Pince was in trouble." He looked at Hermione to talk, but it was Harry who opened his mouth.

"A file cabinet fell on her legs, I'm not really sure how, but I heard it, 'cause I was upstairs and I went down to see what the noise was that I heard. The doctor said something about her staying the night and needing a physical therapist, but he wanted to talk to you since you're an adult and can help her more than we can." Hermione nodded at Harry's words.

"The doctor told us he would come back in..." she checked her watch, "about fifteen minutes so he could talk to you." She added as Remus sat down opposite them.

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Back at the bookstore, Draco was swallowing nervously outside of the door to the stairs that lead to Harry's apartment. He straightened his tie, squared his shoulders and pressed on the door bell. He held a tiny yellow flower in his hands and waited. He was so nervous that he did not notice that nobody had answered his ring until a few minutes after a normal person would have. He pressed the small button again, stomach churning. Again there was no answer. _Maybe he's in the shower._ Draco thought to himself and sat on the curb, contemplating all the different reasons for why Harry did not answer the door bell.

Thirty minutes later, Draco gave up, and with a heavy heart and sinking stomach, he walked back to his car and drove back to the apartment that he and Blaise shared. He was driving on autopilot, not fully aware of what was going on and found himself ten minutes later on the staircase heading up the his home. He did not bother trying to fish the key from his pockes, knocking instead and a confused looking Blaise let him in.

"He stood me up," Draco said quietly and threw himself on the couch. Blaise ran over to him and basically sat on top of him, because there wasn't much room on the couch for the both of them.

"I'm so sorry Draco," He frowned, combing a hand through Draco's silky blond hair.

"I just don't get it. He seemed so happy when I asked him. I don't understand why he would do that to me. What did I do wrong, Blaise?"

"Draco, you don't know the whole story and you shouldn't make assumptions. Something terrible could have happened. or something. There could be a completely valid reason for all of this." Draco lifted his head up out of Blaise's hand and drops it on his chest, the human cushion much more comfy the the couch one.

"I know, I know but still."

"Why don't you go take a shower and get ready for the party you insisted that we throw. It'll take your mind off of this and then you can get drunk so you can forget. You can drive over to the book store in a few days and yell at Harry then, ok?" Draco nodded at Blaise's idea, but refused to get up for another twenty minutes and when he does, Blaise can see that his eyes are red from unshed tears and pulls him into a hug, "Everything will work out in the end, I promise."

"But, you're not working things out with Longbottom even though you say you _love_ him, so how would you know? I just... I know that it might all be ok, but I also know that it might not and even though I don't really know Harry at all, I still really liked him and he's gorgeous and his voice is lovely and I wanted to know him and I'm worried that I won't and"

"Draco. Breathe. Go take a shower. If I talk to Nevi-Longbottom, will it that make you feel better?"

"Yes."

"Ok, now go." Blaise said, slapping Draco on the ass as he goes, receiving a small shriek and a slap on the arm in return.

"How dare you, Zabini, I'm in a vulnerable state."

"You'll live, loverboy."

"Shut up, you dumbass and go call Longbottom. I want to know what happens when I get out of my shower." Draco said over his shoulder as he exited the room. Blaise sat down heavily on the couch and looked around the room. Taking in a deep breath and trying to prepare himself for what he was about to do, he took his phone out and dialed the number.

"Hello? Blaise?" Neville's voice came choppily out of the phone and Blaise inhaled another lungful full of air.

"Neville? Yeah, it's me. I think we should talk. I know it's been a while and I didn't want to talk to you, but if you have the time and you don't mind, I'd like to figure things out." There was a long pause.

"Yes, of course, Blaise. What were you thinking time-wise?"

"Draco's throwing a party in few hours. Maybe you could come over and we could talk somewhere," Blaise traced invisible doodles on his thigh.

All the way across town Neville had to press his ear to the phone and stuff his finger into the other to try to make out the words the man he loved was saying. "I think that sounds fine. Do you want me to come over now?"

There was another stomach dropping second and Blaise let out a puff of air, whispered "yes," and then hung up the phone. Neville sat where he was for a moment before jumping up and grabbing his jacket and wallet then running out the door.

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Remus talked to the doctor in a room a hallway away from the waiting area and then walked back to where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were waiting and looked down at them with sad eyes.

"You guys can go. I'm going to stay here a little while and Sirius' coming to keep me company. You can go to the party you've all been going off about," he said quietly. Hermione nodded and stood up, Ron and Harry following her. They hugged Remus all at the same time then walked out of the waiting room silently. It was not until they got back to the car that Ron opened his mouth to talk,

"I think we shouldn't go to the party tonight. I'm really not in the mood. Harry, you can find Draco later and talk to him and we can do another party some other time, or something." The other two agreed with him and they drove back to the bookshop. With unspoken agreement, they all made their way to Harry's apartment, sat down snugly on the couch and propped their feet up on the coffee table.

**AN2: So there is is. Hope you weren't waiting too long for this and that it met your expectations. I'm sending you all invisible soft chocolate chip cookies with flakes of peppermint on top as an apology for taking so long. Hope you had a good first month of school. :) please read and reivew. i always like to hear what people have to say.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Here's the next chapter. I hope you didn't mind the wait.**

Chapter 7

Thirteen young adults sit on stools around a stage. They each have an easel in front of them with a sketchpad attached to it. Each one is outfitted with charcoal, white charcoal, a stretchy eraser, and whatever else they felt that they needed to feel comfortable with the lesson. On the stage sits a table with an arrangement of objects that Remus put together that morning. It consists of anything he could fit in his bag from the art school's basement that he was allowed to use. He had set it up in a daze, mind wandering past the shoe and the vase and the upside down cup. It skipped through the open window and down the streets of Hogwarts town until it rested in a chair beside Mrs. Pince's hospital bed.

He had rushed over the hospital after getting the call from Ron, leaving Sirius by himself in his apartment. He had thought Sirius would leave and go out somewhere to get it on with some barely legal kid and enjoy the New Year's celebration. He had not expected him to still be there when he returned, head lolling back against the couch with his legs spread out on the coffee table. The remote sat in his hands and it was warm when Remus picked it up to turn off the television.

Remus had had to shake Sirius awake and almost drag him into the bedroom. Sirius flomped onto the bed and passed out again. Remus had sighed, stripped, and put on a pair of sweatpants before collapsing on the bed as well. He did not fall asleep for a long time.

Today the lesson Remus gave his students was how to draw a still life by understanding basic shapes and shading techniques. His heart was not in it and he seemed to be droning on and on. His usually eager-to-learn kids were restless today so he allowed them to try what he had been trying to explain out instead of giving them a full explanation. It would be easier to see what they could do and help them work on things they were not as good at afterwards anyway. He walked around the class but did not focus on anything unless a student called him over with a question but there were not many of those today. They could tell that something was very wrong and let him be. He silently thanked them as he circled around the room.

He just did not know what to think anymore. Sirius was sleeping over his house more often than not recently. He had not been partying as much or getting into the risky things that he usually did. This Sirius was different than the one the Remus thought he knew. It 3almost seemed like Sirius wanted to settle which was baffling and made Remus want to bang his head on a wall, but also jump for joy at the same time.

And then there was the whole thing with Mrs. Pince. The doctor had said that from what he could tell, the filing cabinet that fell on her could not done so have unless it had been pushed by a very strong person. And that meant that either Harry had pushed it over or someone had broken in. Remus hoped with everything he had that it was not Harry. He thought he knew the kid well enough to be absolutely sure that it wasn't, but there was that tiny seed of doubt planted in his head that he could not get rid of. _I mean, I don't really know him that well. I don't know his history or anything. I barely know anything about his family..._

A question from a student jolted Remus out of his worried mind and back to the present. He went over to help her out before realizing that she was trying to the tell him that the lesson was over and he needed to dismiss them. He did so, sat down on one of the previously occupied stools, and looked around the room. This was going to be a long afternoon. But he had things to do and people to talk to. So he pulled himself up, stretched and moved forward to collect the assortment of objects to take back down to the basement of the school.

* * *

><p>Harry and Hermione sat cross legged across from each other on the floor of his tiny living space. They started out on the couch, but it was easier to face each other where there was more legroom. Hermione was playing his right hand with both of her and he stared down at the twisting fingers.<p>

The bookstore was closed today and would remain so until Remus was able to hold a conversation with Mrs. Pince about it. He, Hermione, and Ron had not been allowed to see her, but they were told that when she asked for them they would be called in. It had only been a day but it felt like longer. Harry had slept very little the night before and from the rings circling Hermione's eyes, he found it safe to assume that she had the same problem as he did. They both knew something was wrong, very wrong. Ron that he heard from eavesdropping on his mother who had heard from her neighbor who got it from her daughter who was a nurse, that Mrs. Pince's accident did not seem like an accident at all and that there might be a police investigation. Ron had told Hermione and she contacted Harry about it, he knew immediately that he would be one of the suspects. Hermione heard him choke up over the phone and decided to pay him a visit.

"You know we don't blame you, right?" Hermione asked quietly after some time. Harry just nodded and looked away. He was new to this town. He had no backstory, no relatives, no anything that tied him here. People did not know who he was or where he came from or why he had come. And he had no alibi. He was the perfect suspect for this. Of course there was the fact that he would never do such a horrible thing to someone who cared about him, and that he was barely strong enough to lift the boxes of books. But police investigators don't know things like that. He wondered if maybe the fact that he had plans to go on a date with the ex-son of the scariest businessmen in town had anything to do with it.

"You might not, but other people will... Look, let's not talk about this. There is nothing you or I can do or say that will change anything. I'm not going to skip town or anything. Let's just... let's just do something else."

"Harr-"

"No. Hermione, listen to me. I really do not want to talk about this right now." He held her hands tight, almost begging her to listen to him.

"Fine. Fine! But just so you know, talking about things is one of the best ways to work things out. I'm here if you need to talk. I'll always listen, no matter _what_it is. OK?" She squeezed back, and he nodded his head.

"Thanks."

"So... what do you want to do? To get your mind off of things."

"Let's make cookies or something. Then we'll call Ron over and maybe Remus and hang out for a while." Hermione agreed and they stood up.

"We can make a cake too. And lemon squares. Ooh, let's go to the supermarket and get ice cream too." Hermione said as she walked over to the kitchen and started opening drawers.

"Yeah, sounds good. Maybe when we call Ron and ask him to pick some up on the way over. That way we can focus on the more important things." Harry said, pulling out the milk and eggs from the refrigerator. Hermione laughed and grabbed the ingredients he passed to her. She placed them on the table and went to get bowls and utensils. They worked quietly for a while, stirring and mixing. They made silly faces at each other sometimes and Hermione smudged a fingertip of cake batter onto Harry's nose, who licked it and grinned over at her menacingly.

Ron came over a few hours later carrying two tubs of ice cream, French vanilla and mint chocolate chip. Hermione took them from him and set them on the counter while Harry pulled out the pan of m and m cookies from the oven. The chocolate chip ones sat cooling next to the yellow cake that was ready to be frosted. Remus showed up with Sirius in tow just in time to see the three kids putting the finishing touches on the cake with tubes of frosting.

Harry had never met Sirius before but the moment he laid eyes on him, there was a strange feeling of familiarity. Sirius was a few inches taller than him with intense eyes and stubble. He walked behind Remus almost like he was guarding him from something and looked suspiciously around the very small apartment. Harry waved at Remus in greeting and stuck out his hand to Sirius.

"Harry Potter"

"Sirius Black" His hand was strong and firm when he shook Harry's. Harry gave him a weak smile and then turned back to his kitchen to watch Ron carrying a plate stacked high with cookies out to the coffee table. Hermione grabbed five glasses from the cupboard so Harry ran over and got milk from the refrigerator.

"You guys can make yourself at home." He said as he set the milk down. "I'll go get the cake and a knife and then we can eat."

Ron grinned in response and whispered, "This looks amazing" to Hermione, who blushed. Remus smiled calmly and Sirius continued glanced around moodily. Harry's eyes shot over to Sirius before going back to Remus who cleared his throat and stood up.

"I'll help you out, Harry. I can help you plate the pieces if you want." Harry nodded and they walked the small distance over to the other room. Remus checked over his shoulder before lowering his voice, "I'm sorry he's so moody. He's not usually like that. I wanted you to meet him because he's my best friend. I can talk to him if you want."

"No it's fine. I hope he'll lighten up after some desserts though. But why does he look like someone's going to jump out of the T.V. and kidnap you?"

"I think it has something to do with the fact that Mrs. Pince's accident probably wasn't an accident." Remus said thoughtfully, not realizing the implications of that statement until he made it. "Oh, Harry, I didn't mean it like that."

"Yeah, OK." Harry mumbled and handed the old boy two plates of cake pieces to bring out to their friends.

The rest of the evening went on like that, with the five of them eating their fill of sweets and talking about nothing much at all. Sirius came out of his shell a bit and Harry began to realize why Remus considered him his best friend. He also noticed the tension between the two of them but tried not to think about it, along with the feeling of knowing Sirius from before. His past was not a happy one and if Sirius was in it... well he just hoped that he wasn't.

* * *

><p>Lucius Malfoy sat in his bed, staring down at a pile of paper that he placed up on his lap. He had received it in the mail from Tom Riddle and had been told to read before he went to sleep. He glanced down at the paper, frightened and worried. He had no idea what it meant or what it was it about or even why Riddle instructed him to read it. His mouth was dry and his hands shook, but he picked up the first page and began to read:<p>

_High above the world, on a cloud in the sky lived a small boy and his dog, whose name was Cat. He had been there for a long time, sitting and waiting for his mother to pick him up, but she had not come back in a while. His clothes were rather ratty and a bit too small for him. His hair, and the dog's fur as well, were both unkempt and in disarray and rather shabby. He did not seem to be hungry and neither did Cat, though he let out an occasional whimper every now and then as the boy scratched him behind the ear. He has, in reality, been there for twenty years, growing at an impossibly slow rate and sustained only by his mother's magic, which the cloud is drenched in. He thinks that he has been there for a few hours. The gods who float by the boy and his dog on their comings and goings with business and Earth, look at them with pity because they know what is going on, but no one can help him and no one will try, at least anyone in their world and only they would have the ability to get him out anyway, so basically he is stuck. The evil gods snicker to each other as they pass while the lovely ones have tears in their soulful eyes. _

_He has been visited once._

_A god walked by him in the cloud and did not give him a second glance but the boy did not care until later when he realized that he should have. He should have asked the god for help to find his mom, to get home, to get off the cloud. But he was too late and the god had given him a chance, if you can call it that. Because of this, the other gods, or at least the nice ones thought that if they tried to get him out of his prison he would just ignore them. They don't want to work powerful magic unless they know it will do something, and they don't. They also don't want to cross his mother who watched him every day from a distance. She is the queen. She never wanted this to happen to her child, but she had no other choice. The Fates had told her that the boy would someday overthrow her and she could not bare the thought of being less powerful than she is now. Because of this prophecy, the moment she got the chance, she put him on a cloud with the dog with a stupid name. She placed a Statis charm over the cloud so the time would stand still for him so he did not feel the pain of growing up alone. Every five years would seem like an hour to him under the spell and by the time it was "long" enough for him to realize that his mother would not be coming back, she would be strong enough that she would be able to set him free._

_Or at least, that was the plan._

_She had not considered that while the gods had magic in their hands and bodies, the people of Earth had heart, even if most of the time it was used in the wrong way. She forgot to realize that people, as in humans, could also look up at the clouds and wonder why there appeared to be a little boy sitting on top of one for twenty years. And she forgot to check and see where the cloud was hanging over, because if she had, she would have realized that the woman living inside the house that the cloud was directly above had been watching the boy on it for twenty years and wondering why on Earth he was up there. The woman, in her youth, had asked her mother about the boy a few times, but parents had dimmer eyes than those of their children and she thought her daughter was playing with an imaginary friend. But the girl knew that the boy she saw every day in the sky was not a hallucination. She knew what she was seeing was real and she vowed that one day she would find a way to reach him. She would also him why he was sitting on a cloud above her house and why he had a dog and how he got there in the first place._

_The day she turned twenty-six, she walked down the road to the local hardware store and asked them to sell her their highest ladder. _

_But when she saw how high it went, she realized it was not tall enough. She asked her friends to help her build something to get to the cloud. They decided that building some sort of ladder-ish thing sounded like a fun way to spend the summer so they made plans. They spent hours and hours pouring over charts and diagrams and drawing their own, for a way to reach the cloud. They had been at it for about two months, but each plan they came up with always seemed to have a problem. The girl decided to take matters into her own hands and figure it out for herself, deciding that if she somehow combined all the plans that had made into one, it would work itself out. So she and her friends began to build the unstable looking device she was sure would get her to the cloud. It took them three weeks to complete it and it reached a few feet under the cloud. She would have to jump up to it. But the summer was over and most of her friends had places to be and she ended up alone with her friend Sam. She and Sam had known each other for about ten years. Sam had never known about the boy or dog in the cloud until this summer and was a bit put out that her friend had kept it from her for so long. They could have figured these things out years ago. They decided to go up their makeshift ladder together and help each other make it over the little gap between it and the cloud. It took the more than a few hours to the top of their invention. The two girls had packed bags full of food for themselves in case and had already gone through a good portion of it. The water supply was half way down and they continuously put on and took off their sweaters as temperatures rose and fell around them. It was very tiring for both of them and it was scary to look down and see how far away from the ground they were. When they finally made it, there were disheveled and red in the face and their feet were sore and achy. They sat for a minute before Sam bent down and made a step with her hands for her friend to pull herself up onto the cloud and she reached down to pull her up. _

_They looked down the cloud to the boy and his dog. _

_The cloud was very large and long and the boy and his companion did not notice them coming until they had been walking for about thirty minutes. "Oh please, can you help me!" He called, "My mom said she'd be back hours ago but she hasn't and I can't leave the cloud without her, my magic isn't strong enough yet." The girls looked at each other, taken aback. They did not understand what he meant by magic but the fact that the boy had been left on a cloud by himself for twenty years was horrifying enough- to everyone involved. "We don't know your mom, but we can help you get down from here and maybe find her." The boy nodded at his knees before taking a deep breath and standing up. He nudged his dog to follow him. Sam jumped from the cloud to the ladder and helped the girl lower the boy down. She jumped and the dog followed her. Then they began their trek back down to machine, helping the boy on some more difficult to navigate places. Cat barked at the birds that flew by him and the bugs that crawled up the contraption as well as any shiny things that happened to catch his eye. _

_They made it back to Earth by the time the sun was setting._

_The boy's eyes are enormous as he takes in Earth. He misses the gold and the cloud furniture that had decorated his home up in the sky. The food on Earth looked and tasted rather dull as well and he picked at the plate the two girls sat in front of him when they got back to the girls house. The ground was hard and made his feet shake from having to put too much pressure down on it in order to keep himself standing. Cat looked strange on Earth as well with his glowing fur. He misses his chairs and his golden eyes fill with tears that fall onto the plastic plate. _

Malfoy holds the paper he just finished reading in a sweaty palm. The others lay scattered around his blanket-covered legs. His face is pale and his hands shake slightly. He has no idea what Riddle meant by the story and that scares him more than anything. Worry creeps into his mind, chilling his spine and making him shiver. He jumped when the door opened.

Narcissa Black Malfoy stepped into her bedroom and looked down at her husband who was hyperventilating over a few pieces of paper. She raised her eyebrows and stepped out, ignoring his whine of protest and her name being called. The long legged woman made her way to the kitchens to get a pot of tea not taking a second glance back at her husband.

The tea burned her mouth at the first sip and she felt her eyes water in response before swallowing it noisily and bringing the cup back to up to her lips. Lucius stomped over to her after about ten minutes. She glared at him, and squinted up at his face.

"Is there something you want, dear?" He huffed at her question and sat down heavily beside her.

"Riddle sent this to me with no explanation." He answered shortly and slapped the small pile of papers onto the shiny table and the cup rattled against its saucer.

"And what would you have me do about it?"

"Read it." He growled before standing abruptly and leaving the room. She sighed to herself and took another sip of tea.

* * *

><p>Blaise sat down heavily on Draco's bed and the blond shifted to make room so he lay down beside him and they both stared at the ceiling.<p>

"Should I go over to the bookstore and try to talk to him?" Draco said to the white paint above them.

"I kind of talked to Neville last night." Blaise eyes prickled as he felt Draco's hand slip into his and held on tight. "It was really fucking hard and I still don't know where we stand anymore. I don't understand why you think we're good for each other when we can't even work out something like this."

"I'm sorry Blaise, really. But you two are it. What you had before Pansy came and fucked it up was amazing and I am so so so fantastically jealous and I'm not going to let you throw it away again. I want you to talk to him, like really talk and figure everything out because I'm the only one here who's allowed to be the fuck up. How could you two have talked yesterday and still not have fixed it?"

Blaise turned and tucked his head into Draco's neck and mumbled, "I don't even know. I just remember crying into his shoulder. Pathetic, I know. But that's basically all we did. I told him why I was upset and he just held me." into the pale skin that his lips were pressed against. "But you have to go see your guy again if I call Neville."

"I think that ship has sailed. And you've already threatened me like that, so it doesn't work. I mean it does but... it wasn't like I even knew him. Sure, he looked gorgeous and his voice was like... I can't even describe it, but I didn't know him. It was stupid of me to be upset about it." Draco lifted one arm and wrapped it around his stomach fingers brushing against Blaise' twisted chest.

"Well, I'm going to go call Neville I think. I hope he hasn't given up on me. I mean I don't even know if we could... What if he doesn't... and I'm too late...?" His breath tickled Draco's neck.

"You aren't. Here. Call him now." Draco moved his hand that was against Blaise's stomach down to his front left pocket and took out the cell phone he found there. He scrolled through Blaise's contacts and found Neville's. "Here."

Blaise took the phone, pressed call and waited for the phone to dial out. They were both quiet as they heard the phone begin to ring and then the sound of Neville picking up reached their ears.

"Hi Blaise!"

"Neville," Blaise breathed.

"Are you ok? Do you need to me to come over?"

"I just... I um... We didn't really talk that much yesterday and I was wondering ifyoustillwantedme." Blaise looked like he was going to throw up and Draco almost laughed him.

Neville actually laughed before answering. "Of-of course I still want to be with you. That's what us talking was about. I'm sorry if the message wasn't clear, but Blaise... you're like it for me. I just love you, ok? I want to be with you in everyway that I possibly can, in any way you'll take me."

"I- Can you come over? I really want to kiss you right now."

* * *

><p>Luna Lovegood sat on the curve of the pavement reading a small pile of papers that had floated down from the window of the house that stood a few feet away. She read through the story that lined the pages three times. Her long blonde hair caught the sun and shone golden as some of it fell forward onto the papers on her lap. If anyone thought a girl sitting on the side of the road with vegetable earrings reading random bits of paper was strange, they didn't say anything as they walked by. After a few minutes, she stood, stretched, twisting her thin body this way and that, jewelry sparkling, and began skipping down back the way she had come.<p>

**AN: Thank you for reading. Please let me know what you think or if you have questions or anything by reviewing or sending me a PM. :)**


	8. AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hi guys

I just wanted to say that I am continuing the story but I'm going to be changing a few things. i realized when i was going through this story awhile ago that i do strange things in this like pairing everyone up. my main characters all have parrings: harry/draco remus/sirius neville/blaise ron/hermione. im going to focus a little bit more on the individuals to get a bit away from the lovelovelove thing that i have going on and get more into the plot that i wanted to write about.

its going to take me while. but ill be posting an actual new chapter soon and have a few more on the way. once i finish this, ill go back and fix these few chapters that ive written already.

sorry for all this

-purplecrown14

cookies are delicious and im sending you all invisible ones for sticking with this story


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